New MegaMan Battle Network
by TheSoundDefense
Summary: An entirely original universe and story based on Megaman Battle Network. Story 1 Part 3: a superpowered Forte threatens the world. Chapter 13 uploaded: HubStyle Megaman battles the Gospel-infused Forte, while Dr. Hikari tries to create a Dimensional Core. Reviews greatly appreciated.
1. Story 1, Chapter 1: First Impressions

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 1: New Origins_

* * *

Chapter 1: First Impressions

The sun shone bright over the metropolis of Den City, capital of the nation of Electopia. Downtown, the air was filled with the sounds of children, as numerous public schools let out at the same time. Running out into downtown, they crowded buses or cable cars in a rush to get themselves home, as the buses drew up to Internet-controlled traffic lights.

Nearly every element of this city, like most cities in the world, was connected to its computerized counterpart, Den Net City. In the year of 2084, most of the world was controlled by computer, and almost every computerized device was linked together by the massive Net. Governments controlled it, scientists developed it, businesses depended on it, and children were taught how to use it in schools.

It was from one such school that three young children were returning home, traveling by cable car to their home suburb of ACDC. One of these three children was particularly excited, as he had received some rather exciting news earlier that day.

"Really? Your own custom Navi?"

Lan nodded, restless in his seat and eager to get home. "Yep! Dad's making it for me and everything! It'll be the best ever!"

Mayl smiled as Lan Hikari, an 11-year-old, spiky brown-haired boy, talked excitedly about his new Net Navigator program, an avatar with which he could surf the Net. Mayl Sakurai, a red-haired, outgoing girl of the same age and height, had been his friend since childhood.

"...and on top of that, I asked Dad if he would be really strong, and he said I wouldn't even have to worry about battles anymore!" Lan finished.

"Ha!" laughed a voice from the cable car row in front of them; Dex Oyama, a tall, stout, darker-skinned boy sat up and turned around to face Lan. "You'll have reason to worry if you try to put any Navi up against my Gutsman! He's not been beaten yet, y'know!"

Lan stuck out his tongue. "We'll see who's laughing after tomorrow, pal! Which of us is the better Operator?" Mayl giggled as the two engaged in a boasting match, one that came to a quick halt as the cable car came to a stop.

"Whoa!" Dex panicked, grabbing onto his seat tight. "What's going on? We run out of gas?"

Lan sit back and sighed. "No, dummy, it's a cable car, remember? It must be another random blackout."

"They've been happening all over the city," Mayl continued, looking outside and seeing several stores without power. She then leaned in, as if she was telling a grand secret. "You know what I heard? I heard that it's actually the work of World Three!"

"World Three? You mean that Net terrorist group?" Lan inquired. Mayl nodded.

"Nah, that's just rumors," Dex said dismissively. "World Three's really powerful, aren't they? If they really wanted to do damage, they'd do something bigger... like blow something up."

Mayl leaned back. "I guess so... that seems more like their style, doesn't it?"

Lan started to reply, but the lights suddenly came back on and the cable car resumed moving, which was met by mild applause from the car patrons. Lan, Mayl and Dex continued their World Three conversation all the way to Lan and Mayl's stop, where they parted ways and went to their individual houses.

"Hey, Mom! Is Dad home yet?" Lan called into the house, tossing his backpack to the side. Lan's mother, Haruka, laughed lightly.

"You know he's not, dear. He always works later on weekdays," she replied from the kitchen, where she was working on Lan's favorite dish, curry rice. "You'll probably have your new present in a few hours, just wait."

Lan sighed and nodded, heading into the family room to watch TV and wait agitatedly.

* * *

Eight hours later, Lan was still without his custom Navi.

At 6 pm, his father had come home from work; upon entering his house, he was immediately accosted by Lan, who was eager to see his new gift. Unfortunately, he was made to wait a little longer, as his father, Yuichiro, told him that this Navi was very elaborate and would have a long install time on his Personal Terminal, or PET. Despite instantly running upstairs and starting the install program, by bedtime it still had not installed itself fully. Somewhat disappointed, Lan resigned himself to checking out the Navi in the morning and had climbed into bed, which is where he found himself when he was woken up at 1 am.

A loud beeping shook him out of a deep sleep, which was followed by a computerized voice. "Megaman installation complete." He looked over toward his PET, yawning, where he saw a blue custom Navi of some sort looking out of the screen, apparently inspecting Lan's room.

His exhaustion gone, Lan leapt out of bed and headed for his PET, picking it up and looking inside, which gave the Navi quite a jolt.

"Awesome! Are you my new Navi?" Lan inquired excitedly, as the Navi collected itself and looked back at his new owner.

"Ah, you must be Lan." He smiled and waved. "Hi! I'm Megaman!"

Expecting to see Lan waving back, he was surprised to find Lan looking him up and down. "Doesn't look real Mega to me..."

Megaman blinked. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Lan sit back, a bit disappointed. "Well, when dad told me my Navi was real strong, I was expecting something... y'know, bigger, stronger-looking... but you just look like me if I put a blue suit on."

"Ah... so you're worried about that..." Megaman mused, before flexing a bicep. "Well, you don't need to! I'm plenty strong!"

Lan smiled a bit. "Think you're strong enough to take on Dex's Gutsman?"

"I don't know who he is, but I'll do my best!"

Lan sighed and nodded, picking up his PET. "So what else can you do? You can surf the Net and set calendars and all that, right?"

Megaman nodded. "Yep! I can do anything any other Navi could,don't worry."

"Can you do my homework for me?"

"I can, but I won't," Megaman laughed.

Lan sighed again, his fatigue returning as his excitement wore off. "You're my dad's work, alright..." He yawned big. "Well, we'll see what you can do tomorrow, it's late..." He put the PET back in its charger and headed to his bed, getting tucked in.

"Goodnight, Lan!" Megaman said cheerfully. Lan looked over and saw Megaman smiling wide, almost hopefully wide. Lan smiled a bit himself; Megaman seemed really eager to be liked.

"G'night, Megaman," Lan got out, before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

* * *

The next day, after school, Lan found himself walking with his PET toward the local arcade.

"So, Gutsman's his name?" Megaman inquired from within the PET.

"Mhmm," Lan replied. "He's huge, really strong. He hasn't lost a match yet; Dex has beaten all the other kids at school." He looked down at Megaman concernedly. "You really think you can beat him?"

"Well, I've never fought any other custom Navis, but I know I'm really strong," Megaman replied. "I'll do my best to take him down!"

Lan sighed, not exactly reassured, as a thunderclap sounded overhead. Lan looked up to see a heavy rain begin.

"Oh man, not now... we're nowhere near the arcade!" He looked around and entered the first door he saw, entering a large, gray, nondescript building and then slumping against the door. "We'll just have to wait here until the rain passes."

Megaman looked around to see what he could. "Where are we? It looks like some kind of utility building."

"It's the electric plant," Lan replied, looking around a little himself. "They've been having problems here, too... buncha random blackouts around to-"

As if to drive the point home, the lights went out right at that instant, and Lan slapped his forehead. "Great... what else could go wrong today?"

BOOM! A mild explosion made the floor shake, and Lan yelped and toppled over, losing his balance.

"What the heck was that?" inquired Megaman, as Lan shook it off and climbed back to his feet.

"I don't know, but it doesn't sound good..." He glanced outside, then did a double-take and got a closer look. From what he could tell, there was no part of the city that had power; this was much bigger than the other random blackouts that had happened. His curiosity was pre-empted by a loud alarm that went off inside the building, as workers started running back and forth, talking loudly and alarmedly.

Lan stepped into the hall to try and look around, but was nearly knocked off his feet by two taller men, running by in blue coats with purple arm stripes. "World Three won't get away this time!"

Lan blinked. "What? World Three?"

"Your dad told me about them," Megaman added sternly. "So they're behind this, huh?"

"I... guess so." Lan replied, a bit bewildered. "I'm not sure, it's a bit confusing out here..."

"Lan, jack me in! I'll try and find out what's going on!"

Lan nodded, looking for a jack-in port and finding one a little ways down the hall; he pulled out the cable on his PET. "Be careful in there, alright? I just got you."

Megaman nodded, and Lan plugged the cable into the port on the wall, sending Megaman into the plant's Net.

* * *

Upon entering the Net, Megaman only needed one look around to see that something was wrong.

"Viruses! They're everywhere, tearing things up."

Lan groaned. "Damn... just run, they won't pick a fight with us."

Megaman smirked and extended his left arm, which glowed white and became a laser-like extension. "We can't just leave them here to do damage..."

He aimed at the hard-hat-shaped Mettool viruses and started firing. "We should clean up a bit!"

Lan began to protest, but was silent when he saw Megaman's buster in action. A single blast, amazingly, was enough to take care of each virus that Megaman encountered. Before too long, all the viruses in the area were gone.

"Holy... how'd you do that?!" said Lan in amazement. "That was nuts!"

Megaman grinned back. "Told you I was strong, didn't I? Now let's see if those Official guys are anywhere around..." He started running forward, trying to listen for sounds of action or battle.

Before too long, he found what he was looking for, and he ducked behind a nearby machine, peeking out. Two tall, bright orange Official Navis were standing in front of a black-and-yellow, sinister-looking Navi with tesla coils extending from his back in an X shape. All three looked a bit injured and battle-worn.

"You fools dare to challenge the might of Elecman?" the bad Navi demanded. "You fools have no chance against a World Three Navi!"

Before the Official Navis could react, Elecman's arm turned into a long, electrified blade, and he dashed forward at great speed, swiping at both of them. There was a second of silence before both Navis exploded, the sound echoing through the area along with Elecman's derisive laugh.

"Damn, this isn't good," Megaman relayed to Lan. "The Officials are gone, this guy could have control of the electric plant..."

As Megaman remarked, Elecman turned his head to the sky and started to speak. "I know you're watching, you SciLab fools! If you dare try to send more Official Navis, I won't hesitate to completely destroy this plant from the inside out!"

He smirked. "But... if you were to meet World Three's demand of fifty billion Zennys, I may be a bit more agreeable." He laughed again, as Lan watched the scene from his PET screen.

"Lan!" Megaman whispered. "We're the only ones that can stop this guy now! Send me a Battlechip!"

Lan goggled at Megaman. "Are you crazy?! That's a World Three Navi, not some kid's custom job! They're incredibly strong, you can't beat them!"

"You wouldn't even know!" Megaman shot back, frustrated. "You haven't taken me seriously since you got me last night!"

Lan opened his mouth to speak, but decided not to, as Megaman calmed down.

"Look, Lan... I just need you to trust me. I... we have to try. I'm stronger than you think."

Lan thought for a minute, thinking back to Megaman fighting the viruses, and nodded. "Alright... we'll give it a try. But if you look like you're in trouble, I'm jacking you out, got that?"

Megaman nodded, as Lan fed the PET a Cannon Battlechip, causing a cannon to appear on Megaman's right hand. He turned toward the boasting Elecman, aimed the cannon at his head, and fired.

* * *

The blast knocked Elecman off his feet and onto his face; when he got back up, he was fuming and looking around. "Who dares-"

He stopped when he saw Megaman smirking at him, his cannon still smoking. "That'd be me, pal! I'm here to take you down!"

Elecman wielded his electric sword once again. "Stupid fool... you think you can succeed where two Official Navis could not?!" He ran toward Megaman at top speed and swiped his sword.

Megaman quickly dodged and flipped away, smirking. "Is that the best you can do?" Enraged, Elecman swiped again and again at Megaman, who dodged each blow with slight but quick movements and mild taunts. After a minute of this, Elecman was panting heavily, while Megaman stood completely fresh in front of him. Lan grinned as he sent Megaman a series of Minibombs to use.

"You arrogant little... don't think you've won!" Elecman got out, catching his breath. He stood up fully and raised his hand, snapping his fingers.

At that instant, the four tesla coils on Elecman's back all shot out electricity at an unprepared Megaman, who took it at full force, crying out.

"Megaman!" Lan exclaimed, as Elecman grabbed the electrocuted Megaman by the leg, grinning evilly.

"Rule #5 of World Three... always have an ace up your sleeve!" Elecman exclaimed, as he spun Megaman around and threw him into a large power converter. Laughing, he fired a Heavy Cannon blast after him, so Megaman and the explosion both hit at the same time. When the smoke cleared, the converter was a pile of rubble, and Megaman was nowhere to be found.

CONNECTION LOST, read Lan's PET, as he slammed his fist into the wall.

"Dammit!" he yelled out. "Megaman... why did you have to go and be the hero?! I barely had you for 12 hours..."

Elecman smirked at the smoldering rubble, then turned his head back upward. "You fools... you really thought you could defeat me, didn't you? Well, see what has happened to your last resort!"

Lan watched, distraught, as Elecman yelled out to SciLab. "Well, I'm a Navi of my word... watch now what happens to your precious city, watch what happens when you try to defy World Three!"

A large explosion from behind made Elecman jump, and he turned around toward the sound. The pile of rubble had exploded violently, with small fires still burning here and there. He watch, horrified, as Megaman emerged and stood up, virtually unscathed.

CONNECTION REESTABLISHED, flashed Lan's PET before returning to a view of Megaman. "You're okay!"

Megaman grinned. "Thanks for those Minibombs, Lan." His face turned slightly to face Elecman, and Lan saw a strong confidence and excitement in his eyes. He seemed to have changed a bit, perhaps even changed into a sort of battle mode.

Megaman chuckled at the shock on Elecman's face. "That's the best you've got, huh?" He stood up fully, ready to battle once again. "Well, I guess it's my turn."

With speed even greater than Elecman's, Megaman dashed forward and punched Elecman square in the jaw, and immediately after delivered a kick to the abdomen that sent him flying. He quickly took out his Buster and shot at Elecman all during his flight, before he crashed into the ground.

"Lan! I need a sword!" Megaman called out.

"Got it!" Lan inserted a Sword Battlechip into his PET immediately; Megaman's right arm glowed white again and transformed into a sword. Megaman grinned again and dashed at Elecman.

Still roughed up, Elecman slowly stood up and turned toward Megaman, to find he was a mere few feet away. He only had time to widen his eyes in shock before Megaman let loose with his sword, swiping away almost randomly. A quarter of a second later, Megaman was behind Elecman, who stood for a second before feeling his tesla coils, along with one arm, drop off.

"Gah!" Elecman fell to one knee and grabbed the crackling, electrified stump that was once his arm. He turned his head toward Megaman.

"You bastard... this isn't over between us! I'll get my revenge for this humiliation!" he snarled, before turning into a beam of light and disappearing upward; he had been jacked out by his operator. Megaman smirked and put his sword away.

"Yes!" Lan shot his fist into the air. "Megaman, that was incredible! He didn't even know what hit him!"

"Told you I was strong, didn't I?" Megaman replied. "Your dad knew what he was doing when he made me."

Lan nodded, prepared to speak again, before he heard footsteps moving in his direction, along with voices.

"The signal said the Navi was jacked in from here!" someone shouted. Lan panicked.

"Megaman, we gotta move!" He jacked Megaman out quickly and took off down the hallway, heading out the door he came in.

* * *

Breathing hard, Lan hid right out of sight of the doorway as the Officials passed by, looking for the jack-in port he had used.

"That was close... we don't need ourselves poked and prodded by Officials," Lan said, catching his breath. He then grabbed his PET and looked at Megaman. "I'm sorry I doubted you, Megaman... I had no idea you were that strong."

Megaman smiled. "Don't worry about it, Lan. We're still getting to know each other, we'll have plenty of time to see what we can do together."

Lan nodded, looking upward at the sky, which had stopped raining. "Speaking of which, we better get to our battle with Dex." He grinned. "We'll give him the shock of his life!" Lan started running down the street, laughing to himself, excited for the battle, and for all the days ahead with his new companion.


	2. Chapter 2: A Grand Day Out

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 1: New Origins_

* * *

Chapter 2: A Grand Day Out

The next day, Lan found himself walking downtown with Mayl, describing to her the events of the day before as they passed by various stores.

"Really?" Mayl exclaimed. "Megaman defeated that World Three Navi that caused the blackout? That's amazing!"

Lan grinned and nodded. "He's really strong! Dad said he was the best Navi he ever made."

"Well, he sure had no trouble with Gutsman," Mayl offered. "He didn't even take a minute! I've never seen Dex so mad before." She grinned. "What do you think he'll do now?"

Lan stretched his arms. "Probably the same thing he always does; he'll fume in his room all day. Maybe he'll buy him a new upgrade or something. Who knows, he's never lost before."

Mayl nodded. "Well, I'm not surprised... anyone who could stand up to a World Three Navi... wow!"

Lan nodded in agreement, kicking at the ground. "Wish my dad was as happy about it..."

* * *

The night before, Lan had returned to his home after handily defeating Gutsman; expecting to see his mother watching the news, he instead found his father there, apparently waiting for Lan's return.

"Hey there, son, how was your day?"

Lan blinked. "Um... fine..."

Yuichiro nodded. "I had a pretty strange day at work today. We got a threat from a World Three Navi at the power station... I'm sure you heard about that, right?"

Lan swallowed hard and nodded, knowing what was coming.

"And then the strangest thing happened... I saw a blue Navi come up and start fighting with him. A very familiar blue Navi..."

Ten minutes later, Yuichiro was still lecturing a very bored and annoyed Lan.

"...and when I made Megaman as strong as he was, it wasn't so you could go picking fights with Net terrorists. If I hear about you two causing any more trouble, that's exactly what you're going to be in! Is that clear?"

* * *

Mayl giggled. "You know he's just looking out for you, Lan. He's worried."

"Well, he shouldn't worry!" Lan exclaimed. "With Megaman by my side, we can take on anything!" He pulled out his PET from the holder on his belt. "Isn't that right, Megaman?"

Megaman rubbed the back of his head. "Actually, I think your dad may have a point..."

Lan groaned and put his PET back. "Is no one on my side today?"

Mayl giggled again, before her eyes widened and she dashed to a nearby window, putting her hands up against the glass and looking in. "Lan! Look!"

Lan, bewildered, looked upward to find they were in front of a multi-floor department store; he walked over to the window, trying to find what had gotten Mayl so excited. "Um... what are you looking at?"

"That!" Mayl exclaimed, pointing to a handbag in the window. "That purse! I saw it in my magazine. It's like the coolest new thing!"

Lan stared at it, wondering what exactly made it better than any other purse, when Mayl grabbed his wrist. "Come on! I wanna try it on!"

Lan yelped as she pulled him helplessly into the store, looking for the clothing and accessories section, which she quickly found, yanking Lan over once again.

* * *

"Bit headstrong, isn't she?" Megaman commented a few minutes later, as Mayl was grabbing the purse from off the rack and putting it on. Lan shushed him.

"Perfect!" Mayl posed with it in the mirror, highly satisfied. "It looks great! I wonder how much it costs..." She opened the purse looking for a price tag; upon finding it, she took a look and quickly frowned. Lan could see the words _Price on request_ written on it.

"Oh no... that's never good." She sighed. "I'll never be able to afford this..." Recovering quickly, she started looking around at the other purses. "I wonder what else they have?"

Lan rubbed his head, starting to suspect his afternoon was doomed, when a loud buzzing started to pierce the air, causing screams from the other customers in the store.

Lan and Mayl quickly covered their ears. "What the heck is this?" Mayl looked over toward the doors, which were slamming shut.

"Attention cus-customers!" a rather panicked voice announced over the store speakers, yelling to get over the sound of the buzzing. "We're having a glitch... yes, a glitch... in our financial- I mean our security systems! We hope to have it resolved shortly... oh dear oh dear..." The voice cut out, and panicked customers started screaming to be heard.

"What did he say?" "This doesn't sound like any normal glitch to me!" "OH GOD WHAT IF IT'S WORLD THREE?!" "Calm down, lady!" "Mom, where are you? I'm scared!"

"What the heck's going on? You think it's a virus?" Lan called out to Mayl, as they watched panicked, generally overweight shoppers crowding the barred door, unsuccessfully trying to get out.

"I don't know! It may be!" she replied. "What should we do?"

"Excuse me!" Lan and Mayl turned around, surprised, to see a rather wiry, middle-aged man in a suit standing behind them, looking very shapen; he had his eye on Lan's PET. "But are either of you skilled Netbattlers, by any chance?"

Lan nodded, and the man wiped sweat from his forehead. "Thank goodness! I'm the store manager, you see... our security systems aren't functioning properly, and we have a virus attacking our computers, but we don't want to alert police or the Officials and scare customers... do you think you could jack in and take care of it? I promise you'll be rewarded!"

Mayl's eyes lit up, as she took a hopeful glance down at the very expensive purse she was still wearing; Lan grinned at the man and nodded. "No problem! Me and Megaman can take care of any virus!"

"Excellent, excellent!" The manager led them over to a specific hole in the wall. "You can jack in right here. But please hurry, and try not to let customers notice you."

Mayl and Lan looked at each other and nodded, then pulled out the jack-in cables on their PETs and sent their Navis into the store's Cyberworld.

* * *

Megaman arrived an instant later; looking over to his right, he saw another Navi appear, a slightly shorter, female Navi in pink armor, with yellow, curved bands expanding from her helmet. This was Mayl's custom Navi, Roll, whom Megaman had met earlier in the day, when Lan and Mayl were at school.

Looking forward, they saw the Cyberworld was in complete disarray; something had come through and torn it apart, scattering devices and data every which way.

"What the heck happened?" Megaman exclaimed, looking around. "This place is a mess, but I don't see any viruses!"

"It looks like they were looking for something," Roll responded, searching some as well. "You think they went ahead searching elsewhere?"

"Only one way to find out!" Megaman replied, and the two went running off in search of the assailant.

Elsewhere in the store, a red Navi with a gray torch for a head was sifting through data, tossing it aside as he looked about.

"Damn... these Elemental Programs are in the oddest of places," he muttered to himself, tossing aside financial and product data bits. "The kitchen section of a department store is the apparent location of a highly powerful... wait!"

He looked down at a certain piece of data he had in his hand; it was colored orange, and was exuding a strange aura. It matched the description he had been given exactly.

"Yes... this must be it!" He laughed to himself as he beheld the Elemental Program he had been searching for, not noticing the two humanoid Navis that were coming into view from his side.

"Look at that!" Megaman pointed out the Navi. "That must be the one causing the trouble around here!"

The Navi looked over at the source of the noise, and his eyes widened a bit at the sight of Megaman, as he and Roll got closer.

"You... you fit Elecman's description exactly." The Navi took a fighting stance. "You must be the Navi that defeated Elecman, are you not?"

"What... how do you know that?" Megaman exclaimed. "You must be a World Three Navi too! What are you doing with that file?!"

The enemy Navi looked at the orange data file he had in his hand. "This is the Elemental Program I was searching for... and one of the four keys to creating the LifeVirus!"

"A LifeVirus? What's that?" Roll demanded.

"A virus created from the four Elemental Programs... one far more powerful than anything that could be defeated by you!" The Navi snapped his fingers, and the data suddenly disappeared. "We have three of them now, and there'll be no stopping us from getting the fourth."

"So, Elecman..." Megaman started, comprehending. "He was getting an electric Elemental Program, wasn't he?"

The Navi laughed. "That's right... and I assure you I'll prove a much better challenge than Count Zapp's weakling." He took a fighting stance. "I am Fireman, the strongest of the World Three Navis, operated by the incomparable Mr. Match! You can't win!"

Megaman smirked, as he and Roll both assumed fighting stances as well. "We'll just see about that!"

The three ran at each other, prepared to battle.

* * *

Immediately upon beginning the battle, Megaman activated a Cannon and started firing it at Fireman. "Eat this!"

Expecting it to contact, Megaman was quite surprised to see Fireman dodge. "What?!"

Fireman laughed, dashing forward and slamming his flame-charged fist into Megaman's stomach, sending him flying backwards. "You fool! Were you not listening when I told you how strong I was?"

Megaman landed hard on the ground, whereupon Roll ran over to him. "Megaman, are you okay?"

"Yea... I'll be fine," Megaman sat up, rubbing his head. "Looks like Cannon fire is too slow, though. We'll have to hit him with our small arms, they're faster!"

"Got it!" Roll replied, pulling Megaman to his feet, before forming a crossbow on her right arm. She turned toward Fireman and began to fire at a high speed. "Dodge this!"

The arrows flew directly toward Fireman, who had barely any time to dodge. Roll and Megaman anticipated the hit, but at the last moment, a fire shield surrounded Fireman completely. The arrow disintegrated upon contact.

"No... no way!" Megaman shouted, getting out his Mega Buster and firing. Every shot dissipated upon coming in contact with the shield.

"Is that all you fools have got?" Fireman demanded, as he lowered his shield, unscathed. "Weaklings, the both of you." He aimed his cannon arm at the both of them. "Now you'll see true power!"

He started firing high-temperature rounds at both of them at a high speed. Megaman yelped and barely dodged one, but got hit by a second and third before Lan sent him a Barrier to protect himself with; the barrage continued as Megaman nursed his wounds.

"Dammit! Nothing we have is working!" Megaman cursed. "We need a strong attack, but they're all too slow..."

Fireman stopped his onslaught, laughing. "Hiding behind a Barrier already! That didn't take long!" He chuckled, marching forward. "Perhaps you're not the Navi who defeated Elecman after all..."

"Megaman, what's the strongest chip you've got?" Roll inquired. Megaman looked over and blinked; Roll was completely unscathed.

"Er... Lan?" Megaman asked.

Back in the real world, Lan flipped through his chip folder. "I've got one Mega Cannon here... got lucky in a chip trader a couple weeks ago." He pulled it out. "We could maybe charge it up... it'll never hit Fireman, though..."

Roll shook her head. "Don't worry about that. I'll distract him while you get reday to fire that thing... then when it's ready, give it to him where it hurts!"

"What? But how will you distract him?" Megaman inquired.

Roll smirked and took a runner's stance. "If you thought Fireman was fast, you haven't seen anything yet!"

An instant later, Roll took off like a rocket. Megaman gawked as she traveled at blinding speed, nearly untrackable, toward Fireman, whom she punched in the stomach as best she could.

Fireman's eyes widened, and he took a step backward before swinging his cannon at her head; she dodged with ease, and jumped back a few feet before Megaman knew what happened.

"What the... Roll is that fast?!" he exclaimed, incredulous. Roll looked over at him, as Fireman charged her.

"Megaman! Get a move on!" she yelled before jumping again, firing two more arrows which Fireman incinerated. Megaman, back in reality, nodded, as Lan slotted in his Mega Cannon chip. Megaman held out his arm and let the Mega Cannon take its time forming, as Roll continued her high-speed, low-power battle with Fireman.

"Gah! Enough of this!" Fireman exclaimed, after being dodged for a fifth time. He put both his hands out. "Let's see you dodge this!"

Standing still for a moment, Fireman started straining, as if trying to summon something. A second later, a barrier of lava appeared in front of him, separating himself and Roll.

"What's he doing?" Roll wondered, an instant before her questioned was answered. The barrier of lava erupted into a massive wall of lava, one too tall for Roll to jump over; her eyes widened, as Fireman laughed maniacally.

"Let's see you dodge this one!" he exclaimed, as he shoved forward, starting its surprisingly quick advance. Roll looked at the top of it; it was much too high to jump over, and she'd never manage to get to either side. All she could do was outrun it, and it would doubtless chase her down. She started to panic.

"Now's my chance!" Megaman yelled, aiming the Mega Cannon and firing.

Fireman barely saw the blast out of the corner of his eye, long after it was too late. He took the full force of the Mega Cannon head on, as it knocked him back several yards. His wave of lava began to fall, and Roll, seeing her opening, barely managed to jump over the top of it.

Megaman got his Mega Buster back out and ran over to Fireman, but it was hardly needed. The blast had taken a semi-circular chunk out of Fireman's body, including an arm and part of his leg. He groaned and tried to stand, but failed.

"You... you bastards..."

Megaman pointed his Buster at Fireman's head. "Give up?"

Fireman snorted derisively. "You fools... World Three already has what it needs from this place. All you've done is slow me down." He started to glow a little. "Lord Wily's plans will not go undeterred..."

"Lord Wily?" Megaman wondered aloud, but Fireman was jacked out before he could shed any more light on the situation. He sighed and put his Buster away.

"Thanks, Roll. We could never have won without your help." Roll smiled.

"I should be saying the same to you, Megaman. Now come on, let's jack out. I'm sure Lan and Mayl are eager to leave."

Megaman nodded, as both of them left the store's Cyberworld.

* * *

"...extremely grateful for your assistance, both of you," the manager was saying to both Lan and Mayl later on that day. "Thanks to you, we were able to get the situation resolved with the customers as happy as we could manage. And as promised, you'll both be rewarded for your efforts."

He took out a small card and handed it to Lan, who looked it over. "This card contains 10,000 Zennys in store credit. You can come back and spend it on anything you like."

Lan looked on it and grinned, thinking of the Battlechips he could buy with 10,000 Zennys. "Awesome!"

"And as for you, young lady..." The manager turned toward Mayl, looking downward at her purse. "It looks like you had something else on your mind."

Mayl's eyes lit up hopefully; Lan smirked and turned around, walking outside to ponder the events of the day.

"So... World Three wants this LifeVirus..." he mused aloud. "I've never heard of a super-powerful virus before. What do you think, Megaman?"

"I think your dad may know what to do better than the two of us," Megaman chipped in. "SciLab could probably stop World Three from getting the last Elemental Program, if anyone can."

"Yea, but he didn't want me associating with World Three anymore," Lan added. "How exactly can I get that information to him without getting in trouble?"

Megaman didn't have an answer to this. Neither had much time to think, however, before Lan was tackled by Mayl from behind, who threw her arms around his neck, much to his surprise.

"Thank you so much, Lan!" she exclaimed.

"W-what?" Lan managed, as Mayl let him go. "What did I do?"

"If it weren't for your and Megaman's help, I never would have gotten this great purse!" she responded, motioning downward to the expensive purse from before, which was still slung about her. "Now come on! I want to show Yai. She's going to totally flip!"

She started to run off toward uptown, as Lan stared, still a bit shaken.

"Megaman... girls are pretty weird."

Megaman nodded in agreement, as Lan started to follow Mayl.


	3. Chapter 3: A Series Of Surprises

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 1: New Origins_

* * *

Chapter 3: A Series Of Surprises

"3700 Zennys, please."

Megaman held out his hand, and a second later a small device formed, which Megaman handed over to the Netmerchant; the man deducted the proper amount from the account and handed it back, along with a piece of data.

"Thank you, come again!" Megaman nodded and turned, leaving the shopping district of Net City and walking off.

"Well, that's done. Your mom should be happy," Megaman said to a listening Lan in the real world. "This should fix the stove good as new."

"Good thing, too," Lan responded. "Dinnertime's suppoed to be in an hour and a half!"

Megaman grinned, as he headed toward ACDC's Net. "Your mom likes to cook a lot, doesn't she?"

Lan shrugged. "It's what she's good at. She teaches a cooking class once a week at the community college, too."

"Neat." Megaman entered ACDC's Net and looked around. "Well, that's done. What do you think we should do next?"

"Hmm." Lan pondered to himself. "How about we check up on Dex? We can see what he's done to Gutsman after that loss last week."

Megaman nodded. "Sure!" He started heading off, but just as quickly stopped, taking a cautious look around.

"What's wrong, Mega?" Lan inquired.

"I'm not sure..." Megaman replied. "I just got this feeling, like I was being watched... it's weird."

"It's probably nothing," Lan said reassuringly. "Come on, let's see what Dex is up to!"

Megaman nodded, taking off in a light sprint.

* * *

A few minutes later, Megaman was near his destination, a little out of breath from running and the occasional virus battle. He looked ahead and saw the portal to Dex's PC.

"Almost there, Lan!" he noted with a smile, as he slowed to a walk and approached the portal. Upon stepping on it, however, nothing happened.

"That's odd, it's deactivated," Megaman observed, poking at it with his foot curiously. "I wonder what- gyah!"

Megaman didn't finish his sentence before he felt an intense, sharp pain shoot through him, making his vision go white.

"Megaman!" Lan exclaimed, as his PET's screen started to fade in and out. After an instant that felt like forever, Megaman fell to the ground, groaning and struggling to stand.

"How does it feel, Megaman?" an all-too-familiar voice inquired. Megaman turned himself over, blinking, and stared up into the eyes of a smirking Elecman. "The pain of defeat...?"

"Elecman!" Megaman shouted, working to get back on his feet. "What are you doing here?"

"Vengeance!" he cried out in response, kicking Megaman in the jaw and knocking him back. "You have angered my operator, Count Zapp, and brought shame to World Three..."

Megaman once again tried to stand, but was hit by an electric Minibomb and cried out, slumping down again. "I have convinced Lord Wily to give me another chance to defeat you, at my full strength... and I assured him I would succeed."

"C-coward..." Megaman struggled to get out, leaning on one arm while turning the other into a Sword. "Hitting me when my back is turned... you don't think you can beat me in a fair fight, huh?"

Elecman chuckled. "I prefer to think of it as putting the shoe on the other foot. I was crippled last time we fought, and now you will be." He formed his arm into an Elecsword and raised it above his head. "Let's see how long you last!"

As Elecman brought his sword down, Megaman closed his eyes and raised his own sword to defend himself, anticipating another dose of searing pain.

When he felt nothing, he opened his eyes to see not Elecman standing before him, but a mysterious red Navi blocking Elecman's sword with his own, long silver hair streaming from his head. He lunged forward and knocked Elecman back.

"You!" Elecman cried out angrily. "You don't ever give up, do you?"

"Who...?" Megaman started, before the Navi turned around to look at him. Megaman was surprised to see him wearing sunglasses.

"Don't try to get up, Megaman, you're in no condition to fight," he stated matter-of-factly. "Return to your PET, get yourself healed."

"He'll do no such thing!" Elecman exclaimed, dashing toward the red Navi again with his sword; the Navi jumped to the side, kicking Elecman hard in the head as he passed. Elecman flew backward, but landed well and got back up quickly. "This is a private matter! You Officials stay out!"

"An Official Navi..." Megaman muttered to himself, as Elecman and the Navi squared off against each other.

"That explains how he knew your name," Lan chimed in. "I'm sure Dad's told them about you..."

Megaman nodded and returned to watching the battle, which was appearing more and more one-sided in the Official Navi's favor. A few more punches and sword clashes later, Elecman was holding his injured arm and breathing heavy, while his opponent looked to be in top shape.

"Give up?" the Official inquired, as a beeping sound came from Elecman, who touched his ear.

"Elecman! Count Zapp!" a harsh, older voice sounded. "Return to base immediately!"

"No!" Elecman responded, as Megaman watched curiously. "I can still beat them both!"

"Never mind that!" the voice responded. "We have a serious problem. The LifeVirus has escaped into downtown Den City's Cyberworld!"

"What?!" all three Navis exclaimed at once; Megaman and the Official Navi exchanged looks, each wondering how the other knew about the LifeVirus. "But it's not complete yet!" Elecman continued.

"Exactly!" the voice returned. "Which is why we need you back at base! Return, now!"

Elecman glared at both the other Navis. "This isn't over!" he exclaimed, before jacking out. Megaman breathed a sigh of relief, as the other Navi stepped forward.

"I don't know how you know about the LifeVirus, but you should know as well as I do you don't want to be on the Net right now. You'd be wise to jack out right away." The Navi disappeared in a flash of light, as Megaman called out to Lan to be jacked out, which he was granted.

* * *

"What should we do?" Lan inquired a few minutes later, after Megaman had restored himself. "We can't just let it run free, can we?"

"We're not just letting it run free," Megaman responded. "The Officials know now, I'm sure they'll be on their way to take care of it. Not to mention your Dad told you to stay away from World Three, if you could help it..."

Lan sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I guess..." He kicked a soccer ball, which rolled to the other side of the room. "I just hate feeling helpless, like I can't do anything."

"Don't worry about it, Lan," Megaman reassured him. "I'm sure-"

_Ring!_ Lan's PET phone rang, effectively silencing Megaman. Lan jumped a little bit, then pressed a button to see Mayl's distressed face.

"Mayl? What's going on?" Lan inquired, sitting up straight.

"Lan! Thank goodness I got you!" Mayl seemed quite distressed. "They're telling everyone to stay off the Net and to leave the downtown..."

"Yea, I know, we already heard," Lan cut in. "Thanks, though..."

"No, not that!" Mayl interrupted, a little annoyed. "It's Yai! She's trapped in an elevator downtown! She can't get out!"

"What?!" Lan stood up. "We need to go and get her out!"

"I can't go!" Mayl exclaimed, exasperated. "My mom's not letting me leave the house! She says to let the Officials take care of it!"

"Don't worry, I'll go and help!" Lan said, running toward his shoes. "We'll be back in no time!"

"Thank you so much, Lan!" Mayl managed, before she hung up. Lan hopped into his shoes and ran downstairs, sprinting through the kitchen.

"Lan!" his mother, Haruka, exclaimed. "Where on Earth are you going in such a hurry?"

"I gotta get something downtown... before... the place closes!" Lan thought up quickly, running out the door quickly before coming to a stop. He turned around quickly and ran up to his mom, handing her a data card. "Oh, here's the repair thing you wanted," he got out quickly before leaving again, leaving Haruka scratching her head.


	4. Chapter 4: LifeVirus Rampage

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 1: New Origins_

* * *

Chapter 4: LifeVirus Rampage

Lan skated as fast as he could toward downtown Den City, passing by a multitude of people and cars heading the other way.

"Where the heck is Yai supposed to be, anyway?" Megaman asked from the PET at Lan's hip. "We forgot to ask Mayl!"

"We'll have to call her now!" Lan replied, grabbing the PET and dialing Yai, nearly colliding with a pedestrian. Not even one ring later, the screen changed to a young girl of eight, in a red dress with long blonde pigtails; this was Yai Ayanokouji, Mayl's longtime friend and the youngest member of the powerful Ayanokouji family.

"Yai! Are you alright?" Lan called out. Yai's distressed look softened a little, but not much.

"Lan! I thought it would be my dad coming to help..."

"Well, I'm coming to help!" Lan replied, slightly annoyed. "Where are you now? What building?"

"Water Tower Place..." Yai looked upward at the elevator display. "I think I'm stuck between the 7th and 8th floors! Please hurry!"

"I'll be right there!" Lan called out to Yai, putting the PET away and zipping down the street at a high speed.

* * *

"Chaud! Report! Any luck?"

Eugene Chaud, a young boy with a red jacket, silver hair and black sideburns, looked into the face of an Official from the phone in his PET. He was currently jacked into a lamppost in downtown Den City.

"Nothing yet," he reported. "It's moving too fast, even for us; as soon as we figure out where he is, he's gone by the time we get there."

"Well, keep looking anyway. We can't let that LifeVirus roam free!"

"We're working as hard as we can already." Chaud leaned against the lamppost with one hand. "The only way that someone's going to get to that LifeVirus is through sheer, dumb luck." He looked down the street as he said this, just in time to watch some kid with roller skates go zooming down a nearby cross street.

* * *

Up in the Water Tower Place elevator, Yai sat in the corner, hugging her knees and waiting for Lan to arrive nervously.

"I hope he comes soon..." she muttered to herself worriedly.

"Miss Yai, if I may..." spoke a voice from her hip. She reached down to grab her PET and looked into the screen to see the face of her Navi, Glyde, a butlerish, generally brown-colored Navi with two pairs of wings emanating from his back. "I might be able to jack in and see about opening the top hatch, to allow you some fresh air."

Yai nodded. "Okay... sure..." She stood up and walked toward the elevator's control panel, pulling out the jack-in cable to her PET and sending Glyde into the Cyberworld.

Upon his arrival, he took a quick look around at his surroundings; this Cyberworld appeared to be undamaged.

"There doesn't seem to be any problems with the elevator, Miss Yai," he reported. "It seems like there must be a power outage keeping you trapped here..."

"Well, they better fix it soon!" Yai exclaimed, getting antsy. "I've been in here for almost an hour!"

"Please calm down, Miss," Glyde replied calmly. "I'm sure they're doing the best they can... aha, here it is!" He came across the program that controlled the hatch, a small, green program resembling a humanoid dog.

"THE ELEVATOR IS CURRENTLY NOT FUNCTIONING," the program reported mechanically.

"I am aware of this," Glyde replied. "I wonder if I could trouble you to open the hatch in the ceiling of the elevator car."

"I WILL TRY," the program responded, before closing its eyes, appearing to be concentrating.

"Freeze, pal!" Glyde heard a voice from behind him. "Hands in the air! Who are you?"

Glyde slowly put his arms up, turning around. "My name is..." He stopped upon seeing who he was dealing with, a familiar blue Navi.

"Glyde!" Megaman called out, running over.

"Master Megaman!" Glyde responded, lowering his arms. "I take it Master Lan has arrived?"

Megaman nodded. "He sent me in to try and get the elevator door open. Are you doing the same thing?"

Glyde shook his head. "I thought I would get Miss Yai some fresh air by opening the top hatch..." He gestured to the nearby program. "This fellow is attempting to do so now."

"Well, if we can get both the door and the hatch open, we may be able to get Yai out!" Megaman exclaimed, looking around. "Now all we need to do is find the other-"

He stopped suddenly, looking off into a distance and assuming a defensive stance. "Over there... there's something heading this way, quickly..."

Glyde followed Megaman's gaze into the distance, squinting a little. There was indeed something in the distance, appearing to be a small, scuttling virus, but something was wrong; it was getting large a bit too fast. Either it was growing as it moved, or it was traveling at an incredible speed.

"Glyde, move!" Megaman called out, diving out of the way. Not one for speed, Glyde only had time to blink before he was knocked away by a giant green spider-like leg. He flew backward several yards before coming to a stop, holding his face.

"Damn!" Megaman looked upward at the monster that had just appeared in front of them. Four huge legs led into an armored, spiked torso, which grew arms with enormous fists; the head stretched itself backward, spikes lining the top of it. It gave off an enormous roar, pointing its face toward the sky.

"This must be the LifeVirus..." Megaman muttered, getting out his buster.

"Sure looks complete to me," Lan chimed in from the real world. "How are we supposed to beat that thing?"

"If it's incomplete, it probably has some sort of weakness," Megaman responded. "We'll have to find and exploit it if we want to win!" He started firing his buster at the LifeVirus's head; expecting them to connect, he instead found they disappeared right before. With each shot, a shimmering, translucent red sphere became visible for an instant, surrounding the LifeVirus.

"What the-?" Megaman wondered; a split second later, one of the LifeVirus's legs caught Megaman in the stomach, knocking him backward. He stood up slowly as the LifeVirus gave off another roar. "It's got some sort of weird barrier around it!"

"It looks like a Aura!" Glyde called out from the other side of the Lifevirus. "Miss Yai has a similar Battlechip in his arsenal... it can only be destroyed by a sufficiently strong attack!"

"Lan!" Megaman called out, jumping to the side to avoid eye lasers. "Send me the strongest Battlechip you have!"

Lan flipped through his chip organizer, trying to find a chip with a strong attack power; he eventually settled on a BigBomb. "Megaman, here!"

Megaman extended his hand, and a large, spherical grenade appeared; he grinned and dodged the LifeVirus's fist, then threw the bomb as hard as he could. "Eat this!"

The bomb flew directly toward the creature's head; like the buster shots, however, it exploded before connecting, making the Aura visible once again.

"Dammit!" Megaman cursed. "We don't have any chips stronger than that?"

An instant later, the LifeVirus placed one of his hands on the ground, focusing. With a loud grunt from the LifeVirus, a series of pointed logs started shooting out of the ground, on a path toward Megaman. He yepled and jumped out of the way, but the log trail turned around and headed back toward Megaman, whose eyes widened. At the last second, Megaman felt a sword appear on his arm. He jumped in the air, marrowly avoiding the log that would have pierced him; he instead chopped off the top of the log, landing on his feet on the flat and harmless piece of wood, which soon receded into the ground.

"Lan, I think I figured something out!" Megaman called out to his operator. "The LifeVirus must be missing one of the Environmental Programs!"

"Really? Which one?"

"Well, we just saw a wood attack, so it can't be that," Megaman mused. "Fireman got the fire program, and Elecman surely took the electric one... he might be weak to water!"

Lan flipped through his chips again. "But I don't have any water chips!"

"What?!" Megaman exclaimed, running away from more eye lasers. "Not a single one?"

"THE HATCH IS OPEN," a nearby program stated, causing Megaman and Glyde to look toward it. An instant later, the hatch in the ceiling of the elevator opened, causing Yai to jump. She stood up, taking her eyes from the scene on her PET, and looked upward.

"Glyde!" she called out. "I can see where I am! I'm close to the eighth floor door, I can see it!"

"I see!" Glyde responded before turning to Megaman, who was blasting, futilely, at the LifeVirus. "Master Megaman, if I may..."

Megaman stopped blasting and moved qickly out of the LifeVirus's sights, trning toward Glyde, who continued. "If I could get the door open, perhaps Miss Yai could throw Lan her Aqua Blade chip. It's quite powerful, and could injure this monstrosity!"

"Good idea!" Megaman said. "Get a move on!" Glyde nodded and ran around, in search of the elevator door program.

* * *

Two minutes later, Megaman had made no progress against the LifeVirus. Lan clenched his fist in frustration.

"Come on Glyde, we can't wait much longer..."

As if to respond, the elevator door suddenly opened, causing Lan to jump a little. He set his PET down and leaned over the edge into the elevator shaft, where he could see Yai inside the elevator.

"Yai!" he called out. "I need you to throw me your Aqua Blade chip!"

"Do that later!" Yai responded. "Get me out of here, please!"

Lan grew frustrated. "Yai, I can't! I can't reach that far! We need to get the elevator working, and to do that we need to defeat this thing!"

"Fine," Yai grumbled, looking through her chips and quickly pulling out the one Lan needed. "Catch!" She wound up and threw the chip as hard as she could through the opening, toward Lan's outstretched arms. Unfortunately, her throw wasn't fantastic, and Lan had to lean forward to catch the chip.

"Got it- whoa!" Lan called out as he started to pitch face forward into the elevator shaft. He managed to grab a nearby pipe to stop his fall.

"Lan!" Yai called out, worried. "Are you alright?"

Lan groaned, putting the Battlechip in his pocket and trying to grab another nearby pipe. After a few tries, he managed to grab it; straining with all his might, he managed to pull himself back out of the elevator shaft, breathing heavily. He quickly grabbed his PET and inserted the Aqua Blade.

"Megaman! Here it is!"

"Got it!" Megaman replied, extending his arm; an instant later, a long blue blade appeared on it, with bubbles floating about inside. He looked up at the LifeVirus, who was winding his arm up, ready to strike again.

"Only got one shot to hurt him, probably," Megaman muttered to himself. "He won't let me near him a second time..."

The LifeVirus threw its fist toward Megaman, who jumped, sending the fist crashing into the ground. Megaman ran up the LifeVirus's arm, jumping toward the LifeVirus's head, the blade outstretched. He stabbed.

The blade met the creature's Aura, which shattered upon contact with the powerful blade. In the same strike, the Aqua Blade inserted itself deep into the LifeVirus's neck.

The LifeVirus let out a vicious roar, shaking off Megaman, who fell to the ground. The hole where the blade had entered sparked viciously, and the creature continued to roar until its knees buckled. It slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Megaman breathed heavily for a minute. "I think we did it... at least we incapacitated it..."

His eyebrows raised at some movement around the virus's head. The mouth slowly started to open; Megaman got on the defensive again, but instead of a laser beam, a small program appeared, wriggling its way out of the LifeVirus and hopping to the ground.

"THANK YOU FOR SAVING ME!" it proclaimed, as Megaman and Glyde stared, slightly dumbstruck. "I CAN NOW RESTORE OPERATIONS TO THE ELEVATOR!"

As soon as he said this, Yai felt the elevator start suddenly; she yelped, losing her balance and falling over, as she was carried up the short distance to the eighth floor. Lan ran in quickly.

"Yai, are you alright?" he asked, extending his hand; Yai nodded and took it, and Lan helped her onto her feet.

"Yes, I'm fine," she muttered, her head down. "Th-thank you for saving me..." Lan smiled a bit; thanking others was never her strong suit.

"No problem," Lan replied, walking back out; Yai followed. "We should probably leave, the Officials will be here soon." He looked toward the elevator from which Yai had just emerged. "Maybe we should take the stairs..."

Yai nodded in agreement, as they walked around in search of a stairwell.

* * *

"Sir, if I may..."

Far away from downtown Den City, a man in a green suit, with pointed blonde hair, walked through a dark room, toward a large, lit desk. "The LifeVirus was defeated, and captured by the Officials. Backup records of the event were stolen by us..."

"And?" replied a gravely old voice from the other side of the desk; in a large chair sat an old man with wild, gray hair, glasses, and a cane. "What did they find, Zapp?"

"It was that blue Navi, Megaman, who managed to incapacitate the LifeVirus," he continued, a little reluctant. "It looks like he's more than we counted on..." He bowed down in front of the old man. "My sincerest apologies, Lord Wily..."

"Megaman, hm?" The one known as Wily stroked his chin, deep in thought. "Perhaps we ought to keep an eye on this Navi after all. He has a knack for being a thorn in our side..."

"What is our next move, Lord Wily?" Count Zapp inquired, still bowed humbly.

"Our plan will continue as normal," Wily replied. "We won't be able to use the LifeVirus for that step, though... but no matter. I think we have another who could do the job effectively..."

Count Zapp looked up, his eyebrows raised. "Lord Wily, you don't mean... him?"

"Yes, him," Wily replied, an evil grin on his face. "He's willing to cooperate with us to this end... his hatred for humanity and desire for vengeance make our goal rather attractive to him. We could use him for that step... he wouldn't suspect a thing."

"So... the plan shall continue?"

Wily nodded. "Do as you were instructed before. Leave him, and Megaman, to me."

Count Zapp nodded, standing and leaving without another word. Wily sat twirling his cane, cackling to himself.


	5. Chapter 5: A Shift Of The Spotlight

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 1: New Origins_

* * *

Chapter 5: A Shift Of The Spotlight

Yai hung up her house phone, sighing and walking into her enormous living room, where Mayl and Dex were waiting for news.

"So what did Lan say?" Mayl inquired eagerly. "Is he coming?"

"He's in trouble for homework or something like that," Yai answered, sitting on a nearby chair. "So he says he'll be a little while longer."

Mayl giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. "That's Lan, alright. Though he has been busy lately," she added, looking at Yai, who looked down with the memory of two days ago, a little pink.

"Hah!" Dex interjected. "He's just going around looking for trouble. He's really asking for it, getting involved with World Three, ya know."

Yai stuck her tongue out at Dex. "You're just jealous 'cause Megaman kicked Gutsman's butt!"

"I am not!" Dex shot back, causing Mayl to giggle again. "Megaman just caught me off guard, that's all. If Gutsman had used his full strength, he'd have won no problem! Especially now, after that Guts Punch upgrade I bought for him. I could do anything Megaman could!"

"Well, we'll have to wait for Lan to get here to find out for sure." Mayl sat back, stretching her left arm.

"Well, let's not just sit around and wait for him." Yai hopped off the chair and started walking. "We can probably surf the Net a little bit. C'mon!"

Mayl and Dex nodded, getting up and following Yai to the computer room, a large room full of electronic devices, including a massive computer screen on one wall. Yai hit the computer's power on button, causing the room to come humming to life, several lights coming all around the room. Mayl and Dex looked around in wonder, while Yai, who had seen this many times before, tapped her foot and waited for the computer to power up.

Five minutes later, lights were still flashing, but nothing major seemed to have happened. Dex and Mayl looked at each other, wondering if this was normal.

"Something's not right," Yai commented, walking to the main screen and manually starting it up. Immediately, a bright blue screen showed up, with white fixed-width letters detailing a serious error.

"Oh, great." Yai rubbed her head in frustration. "Probably viruses again..."

"Viruses?" Dex's eyes lit up, and he stepped forward, startling Mayl a little bit. "Gutsman can take care of those no problem! Let me fix it!"

Before Yai could get a word in, Dex ran up to the jack-in wall, pulling out the cord to his PET and jacking in, sending Gutsman into the Cyberworld.

"Erm... okay..." Yai managed. "Don't break anything though, or you're paying for it!"

* * *

Upon appearing in the Cyberworld, Gutsman took a look around to determine what the problem was; it didn't take long.

"Yup! It's viruses alright!" he communicated to the three outside. "Lots of Mettools, it looks like!"

"Mettools, huh?" Dex echoed, as Yai and Mayl leaned in, trying to see what was going on on the PET's screen. "They're no problem! Show them what you're made of, Gutsman!"

"You got it!" Gutsman ran toward the nearest Mettool, winding his arm up. The Mettool turned toward Gutsman, raising its pickaxe to attack, but Gutsman punched it hard before it got the chance; it emitted a small squeal and went flying off, disintegrating into deletion.

"Yeee!" Another Mettool jumped at Gutsman from behind, ready to attack; Gutsman noticed, and quickly turned around, his arm outstretched.

"Guts Punch!" he cried out, as his fist started to shudder. It shot off the end of his arm like a rocket, intercepting the Mettool's attack and delivering a powerful punch, deleting the virus. The fist quickly returned to Gutsman's arm, who reattached it, cocking it like a shotgun.

Mayl and Yai cheered as Gutsman continued, handily taking care of the viruses one by one, receiving nary a scratch.

"Almost done!" Gutsman reported, as he turned and rounded on the last Mettool, slamming his fist on top of its hard hat; the hat cracked, then exploded, taking the virus with it. Gutsman raised his arms in triumph.

"That's quite enough," came a voice from behind Gutsman; he turned his head to see who it was, only to be met with a particularly red foot to the face, knocking him backwards.

Mayl and Yai gasped, as Dex gritted his teeth. "What the-?! Who's that?"

Gustman slowly stood up, rubbing his head,and turned to face his assailant; he found himself face-to-face with a rather short, red Navi, with a large gray pair of scissors on his head.

"So much for distraction... worthless viruses," he muttered to himself.

"Who are you?" Gutsman demanded, a little nervous regarding his suspicions. "You're with World Three, aren'tcha?"

Instantly, the red Navi darted forward, elbowing Gutsman powerfully in his gut; Gustman grabbed his midsection and keeled over.

"You dare associate me with those vermin?" the Navi demanded, as Gutsman struggled to get up. "No, I am part of something much more... I am Cutman, and I belong to the almighty organization Gospel!"

"Gospel...?" Mayl and Dex wondered, as a furious Yai grabbed Dex's PET away from him, staring into the screen.

"What are you doing in my house, you freak?!" she demanded. "Get out now!"

Cutman laughed amusedly at Yai's anger. "You must be the young Ayanokouji girl... Yai, was it?"

"What?!" Yai exclaimed. "Who are you?!"

"Just a humble representative of the mighty Gospel," Cutman replied. "I was just taking the time to check your banking records, to see about you making a donation to our organization. I think 100 million Zennys will do quite nicely, don't you think?"

As Yai was widening her eyes in shock, Cutman found himself hit powerfully from the side by a Guts Punch, knocking him over.

"Ha ha! That's the way, Gutsman!" Dex exclaimed, taking his PET back. "Let's show this guy what we're made of!"

Gutsman grabbed his fist and reattached it, as Cutman slowly stood up, laughing to himself.

"Such a big fist, but such a weak attack... is that really the best you have?" He grinned evilly, raising his arm and opening his palm; a series of giant scissors appeared before him, firing themselves toward Gutsman, who yelped and tried to outrun them. He barely managed to dodge three, but one pair got lodged in his side; he yelped and fell over, as Cutman laughed.

Gutsman roared angrily, grabbing the scissors from his side and hurling it at Cutman, who dodged it easily.

"No no, not like that," he advised, grabbing the rounder scissors on his head and removing them. "More curve, more angle... here, let me show you."

Cutman threw the pair of scissors, which arched around the area like a boomerang, slicing a large gash in Gutsman's stomach, who fell onto his behind grabbing the injury. Cutman grabbed the scissors as they returned to him, chuckling.

"You're much too slow, you know," Cutman advised. "You're not making this any fun at all. Oh well, might as well finish it."

He gave the scissors one more toss, curving them around toward Gutsman.

* * *

As the scissors approached, a flash of light intercepted them, and they dropped uselessly to the ground. A few yards ahead, a red Navi with long silver hair had come to rest, his Long Sword extended on his arm.

"Who the...?" Yai wondered, looking over toward the jack-in panel and jumping out of her shoes. In the heat of the battle, no one had noticed Eugene Chaud entering the room.

"Who are you?" Yai demanded. "What are you doing in MY house?!"

Chaud answered without looking up. "I'm protecting YOUR bank account, from the looks of it." He emphasized his words mockingly. "Now how about staying out of MY way and letting me do MY job?"

"Why you little..." Yai started storming toward Chaud, but found herself blocked by Mayl's arm.

"Yai, look!" she said in a slightly whispered manner, pointing toward Chaud's jacket. On the arm was a very familiar insignia, that of the Official NetBattlers.

"An... Official?" Yai blinked confusedly, as Chaud continued to operate his Navi. The others turned back toward Dex's PET, wanting to look at what was going to happen.

"An Official Navi, eh?" Cutman remarked; he dashed over to get to his scissors, but Chaud's Navi was there ages before. He picked the scissors up with his sword, flinging them at Cutman at top speed; he tried to avoid them, but they still managed to knick his arm.

"You bastard! I'll destroy you!" Cutman shot back, firing more scissors at the red Navi, who deflected them effortlessly with his sword.

"Let's finish this quickly, Protoman," Chaud ordered, holding up three Battlechips between his fingers. "I'm using a Program Advance! Life Sword!"

"Understood," his Navi echoed back; deflecting one last pair of scissors, he jumped high into the air, in a large arch over Cutman.

"Sword!" Chaud barked, quickly inserting the first Battlechip; mid-jump, Protoman's right arm generated a Sword.

"Wide Sword!" Chaud continued, inserting the next; as Protoman landed in a crouching position, he extended his left arm to make a Wide Sword.

"Long Sword!" he finished, firing one more Battlechip into his PET. Protoman stood and turned to face Cutman, both arms above his head and starting to glow.

"Hah!" Cutman laughed, holding out his arms, each of which glowed and then filled with throwing scissors. "That attack of yours won't save you!"

Cutman threw his scissors, dozens of them, straight at Protoman, whose blades were now glowing a bright blue, forming one giant blade made of light. Intently focused, Protoman swung the blade horizontally with all his might.

The shockwave from his swing was of incredible power; as the blade of light flew forward, it cut all of Cutman's scissors neatly in half. Cutman didn't even have time to blink before he was bisected by the blade's shockwave; he stood in shock for a moment before his two halves crumbled to the ground.

His job done, Protoman's hands returned to normal as he ran over to Cutman's top half, grabbing it by the collar. "Tell me everything you know! Now!"

Cutman laughed weakly. "You foolish Officials think you can oppose the full might of Gospel..." He coughed and continued on. "You'll get nothing more from me... I'll be seeing you in hell." With one last smirk, Cutman's two halves disintegrated into deletion.

Chaud sighed. "Nothing we could have done. Well done, Protoman, jack out." Protoman vanished from the Cyberworld, just as the main screen of the computer room suddenly changed from blue to white, then to a proper interface, causing everyone except Chaud to blink and look up. Pulling the cord out of the jack-in port, he pocketed his PET and started walking out.

"Hey, wait!" Yai started running after him. "Where are you going?"

"Off to do more work," Chaud replied without looking back. "Stay out of trouble." Everyone watched him leave the computer room, toward the front door.

Back outside, Lan was running up Yai's driveway, eager to make up for lost time.

"You wouldn't be hurrying like this if you had done your homework on time, you know," Megaman lectured him.

Lan would have replied, but as he reached the front door, he was startled when it swung open on its own, as a silver-and-black-haired boy in a red jacket walked out. He too started for a moment, before pushing past Lan to walk out without a word.

"Same to you, pal!" Lan called out, sticking his tongue out at Chaud's retreating back, before going inside. Expecting to see everyone hanging out normally, he was surprised to find them in the computer room, all staring at Chaud as he left. They looked up at him with a bit of surprise, collectively and silently.

"Er... hi... what's up?" Lan got out.

* * *

Elsewhere, an old man with gray, desheveled hair was staring into a computer screen, conversing with a Navi encased in shadow.

"So the LifeVirus is no longer possible," the Navi repeated.

"Unfortunately not," the old man replied. "No matter, there is another way to go about achieving our ultimate goal. But it requires more assistance on your part, if I may ask for it."

"Our ends remain the same, Dr. Wily," the Navi replied. "I will help you to any extent, if it means I can exact my revenge on this pathetic race of humans."

Dr. Wily grinned. "I am glad to see we are in agreement. I will contact you when I next need your assistance."

The shadowed Navi nodded and turned to leave, his tattered cloak fluttering behind him. Wily sat back in his chair, cackling to himself.


	6. Chapter 6: Practice Makes Perfect

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 1: New Origins_

* * *

Chapter 6: Practice Makes Perfect

"You think we can pull this off?"

Lan grinned, skating down the street. "The two of together, we've got a great chance, don't you think?"

"A competition between all the Netbattlers in Den City," Megaman mused, as Lan headed down toward the local arcade. "Sounds like fun, but I'm sure there are some real strong Navis out there, too. And good Operators."

"Well, it's not all about winning, either," Lan reminded Megaman. "If we can master that Program Advance in battle, we'll have a serious heads up on any other World Three Navis that come our way!"

Three days ago, after the Gospel attack on the Ayanokouji mansion, Yai and the others had told Lan everything that had happened, including Protoman's appearance and use of the Life Sword Program Advance. Immediately after returning home, Megaman had looked up all the information he cold on Program Advances, and they had set to practicing. It was much more difficult than they had thought; it required intense concentration on both ends, as well as very specific timing. As it turned out, if Navi and Operator were not highly synchronized, there was no chance of the attack going anywhere.

"It's probably going to be a lot harder in battle." Megaman stretched his virtual arms. "At home we had all the time in the world to prepare the attack."

"That's why we're here!" Lan replied, as he rounded the corner and saw the bulge of Netbattlers outside. He skated up to the entrance of the arcade, where he tried to look for any sort of person that could sign him up.

"You want in too, huh?" a familiar voice called out; Lan looked over and saw a very smug Dex standing near the front of the bulge. Retracting his shoes' wheels, Lan ran up to Dex.

"Dex! Do you know where we can sign up?"

"Heh! You best not sign up at all, Lan!" Dex replied arrogantly. "It'll save you the humiliation of losing to the new and improved Gutsman!"

Lan smirked. "I'll take my chances, Dex. Where do I go?" Dex chuckled and pointed to a table, where two adults were standing by with clipboards and computers; Lan ran over to them eagerly.

"This is where you sign up for the tournament, right?"

"Name?" one of them asked matter-of-factly. Lan quickly offered all the necessary info about himself and Megaman, which one of the men wrote down on a clipboard.

"Alright, now we just need you to deposit your Navi in our database, for our pre-tournament scans."

Lan stopped for a minute, looking down at his PET and thinking for a minute; he looked back up. "Um... when does registration end?"

One of the two looked at his watch. "In about 30 minutes."

"Can I wait until then to deposit Megaman? We could practice on one of the machines until then."

The man sitting near the computer shrugged. "Sure, don't see why not. Knock yourself out."

"Thanks," Lan grinned, rushing over to an arcade machine and pulling out his PET. "C'mon, Megaman! We can try practicing for the next half hour!"

"Well, alright," Megaman conceded. "Just don't wear me out before the tournament begins, okay?"

Lan grinned, plugging Megaman into the duel machine. "Got it."

* * *

15 minutes later, they had tried the Life Sword many more times, with varying degrees of success, before Megaman called it quits.

"If we do any more of these, I'm going to wear myself out. Let's go and get ourselves registered, everyone else has already."

Lan nodded and jacked Megaman out, heading to the registration table. As he drew closer, he was surprised to find both of the regulators staring at the computer, one of them hammering away on the keys as they muttered between themselves.

"Um..." Lan interjected. "Could we get ourselves registered now?"

"Hold on," one of them muttered, a frustrated look on his face. "We're having some slight technical difficulties..."

An instant later, the lights in the arcade shut themselves off, as everyone gasped. While everyone started talking animatedly amongst themselves, all of the observation screens located on the walls of the arcade turned themselves on, each of them showing the image of a man with long, blonde hair and a sickening grin.

Lan tensed. "Damnit... this better not be another World Three attack!"

"Greetings, Netbattlers," the face began. "I'm sure you're wondering what the meaning of all this is. Well, to make a long story short, we've taken all of your Navis."

The crowd erupted in anger, everyone yelling at the face in the wall, demanding their Navis be returned with no degree of politeness. The fellow had to fight for silence so he could continue.

"Oh come now, it's not that bad." He chuckled. "All your Navis will be serving the great Gospel organization, in our quest for total domination of the Net. They are being brainwashed as we speak, right here in the arcade; soon they will serve in our armies and maintenance crews. Hope you all can afford new ones," he added with a smirk, before the video feed cut out and the room erupted in anger once again.

"Did you hear that, Megaman?" Lan called out to his PET. Megaman nodded in response.

"Good thing we hadn't registered ourselves yet," Megaman added. "We've got to jack in and get those Navis back before Gospel gets away with them!"

Lan nodded, looking for a jack-in port and finding one quickly. "Be careful, Megaman," he mentioned as he sent Megaman into the arcade's Cyberworld.

* * *

It didn't take long to find the missing Navis; as soon as Megaman was jacked in, he could see the various Navis being held in tall, thin chambers all around him, in a grid pattern.

"Lan! Are you getting this? The Navis are all over the place!"

Lan nodded, back in the real world. "Better be careful, the Navi responsible for this can't be far from here."

Megaman nodded, walking forward and looking to his left and right with each row he passed. He never heard the attack coming from behind him until it collided with his back and exploded, sending him flying forward onto his face.

Getting up quickly, Megaman turned around to try and find his adversary. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

In response, Megaman saw several tiny tornadoes moving at him at a high speed. Jumping on top of the nearest chamber, the tornadoes flew right past him, having lost their target. Having a higher vantage point, Megaman looked for the source of the tornadoes, finding it quickly; it was a blue, aerodynamic navi of average height, a giant fan built right into his chest.

"Found you!" Megaman generated a Wide Sword on his arm and jumped at the assailant for an aerial strike; the Navi dodged out of the way quickly, pointing his arm, which ended in a smaller fan, at Megaman.

"Who are you? I thought I got every Navi here; how did you escape?"

Megaman smirked, noting a remote control in his hand. "I'm the one you missed, pal. I wasn't in that database." He dashed forward, swiping at the Gospel Navi, who again jumped back. "Now who are you?"

The Navi chuckled. "I am Airman, of the great and powerful Gospel! And you shall not presume to stand in our way!" He pointed his fan arm at Megaman and it began to spin, quickly producing numerous small tornadoes that started chasing Megaman.

"Run, Megaman!" Lan called out. Megaman turned and ran off, turning corners and trying to evade the tornadoes; rounding one corner, though, he yelped as he nearly ran face-first into an intercepting tornado. Jumping in the air, he barely managed to avoid being hit; the tornado kept going forward and ran into another, causing both of them to explode.

As Megaman came back down to the ground, he looked up to see a massively tall cyclone heading his way. "Too slow!" Airman taunted, as Megaman was picked up and hurled away by the cyclone, his head colliding hard with one of the Navi containers.

Rubbing his head, Megaman slowly stood up, looking toward Airman, who was on the attack again. "His tornadoes are too fast... I don't even get a chance to attack, let alone use a Program Advance! It's like he can make them follow me!"

"Maybe he can," Lan mused, looking through his chip folder for ideas; upon finding an Area Steal chip, he pulled it out and grinned to himself. "Of course, he can't do that if he can't find you, can he?"

Megaman grinned back. "I'm ready when you are!"

Lan nodded, slotting in the Area Steal chip, as Megaman started running head-on toward a laughing Airman.

"So you welcome your doom, do you?" he taunted, as he turned all of his tornadoes toward his advancing adversary. As they all converged on Megaman, however, he disappeared suddenly, causing all the tornadoes to destroy themselves. Airman's eyebrows raised, as he looked all around for his foe.

"Where did you go? You can't hide from me!" he called out. He walked forward cautiously, looking down the rows and rows of Navis. As he inched forward, Megaman stood atop a chamber behind Airman, grinning. Lan slotted in a Shotgun, which Megaman aimed and fired at Airman, hitting him in the back and casting a veil of smoke with it.

"Gah! There you are!" Airman called out, whirling around and using the fan in his chest to clear away the smoke. By the time he had a clear view, however, Megaman had vanished once again. Airman barely had time to ponder this before he found himself hit in the head with a trio of Minibombs, causing him to turn around once again.

"Gotcha!" he heard Megaman call out from above; looking up, he only had time to move the slightest inch as Megaman came down on him, sword outstretched, chopping off his fan arm and part of his torso.

"Gragh! You bas-" Airman started, before a powerful kick from Megaman silenced him and sent him flying back several yards. His left half sparking and incomplete, he roared with rage as he stood up.

"You! I'll kill you for that!" He started running forward, as did Megaman, before a loud bang caused them both to stop and look up. An instant later, Airman's head was pierced by a thin, purple beam of light. His eyes wide, he collapsed to the ground, motionless.

"What the-?!" Megaman looked around for the source of the laser, finding it up in the sky. Slowly advancing downward toward Airman's frame was a black Navi of moderate height; his frame was wrapped in a tattered brown cloak up to his mouth, and two large fins protruded from his head on either side.

"Don't know what Wily needs with you, pathetic thing," he muttered, landing next to the frame and grabbing it by the good hand. "I suppose he knows what he's doing, though..."

"Hey! Who are you?" Megaman called out, aiming his buster. The black Navi quickly looked in his direction, before jumping to an incredible height, flying up and away. Megaman ran over to where he was and looked up at his retreating frame.

"Who was that..." Lan wondered, as Megaman looked down at the remote that Airman had dropped.

"I have no idea," Megaman muttered, scanning the remote. "But he mentioned Wily... he must be connected with World Three somehow."

"World Three?" Lan puzzled. "You mean that World Three and Gospel are fighting or something?"

"I don't know, but it probably isn't good for us either way." Megaman finally found what he was looking for, a small button labeled Abort. Pressing it caused the numerous chambers surrounding him to simultaneously open, depositing their contents onto the ground in front of them. The Navis collectively sat up, rubbing their heads and blinking while wondering aloud what had just happened.

* * *

Ten minutes later in the real world, one of the tournament regulators was standing on the table, holding a megaphone up to his mouth and speaking loudly.

"We apologize for the inconvenience," he stated to the bulging crowd of Netbattlers. "All of your Navis have been recovered, and you're free to take them home. We'll contact you all when a better day to hold the tournament comes about..."

He tried to continue, but the tumultuous uproar from the crowd made him inaudible. Everyone started jeering or yelling angrily, none of them quite ready to leave. The man held up his hand, and the crowd quieted somewhat.

"Seriously? You guys still want to continue on?" The crowd cheered back approvingly, as the regulator chuckled.

"Incredible... if Den City had more Officials like you guys, we wouldn't have ourselves any trouble at all. All right then!" he yelled, raising his fist, as the crowd cheered with approval, including Lan. "Let's get this tournament underway!"


	7. Chapter 7: Test Of Skill

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 1: New Origins_

* * *

Chapter 7: Test Of Skill

_BLAM!_

Receiving a buster shot to the head, a yellow Navi keeled over onto the floor of the Cyber arena; smirking, Megaman landed on his feet in front of the Navi, as he got up, rubbing his head, which was adorned with an exclamation point.

"Give up?" Megaman taunted, aiming his buster at the Navi once more. Outside, several onlookers cheered Megaman on, as Lan grinned, ready to send more Battlechips if necessary. His opponent, a twenty-something male with a jean-jacket vest, was getting annoyed.

"Snapman!" he called out. "Do it now!"

Back in the arena, the yellow Navi grinned before suddenly disappearing. Turning in all directions, Megaman looked all around for the Navi; an instant later, he jumped as a tall, cylindrical barrier formed around him. Looking up, he saw Snapman right above him, coming down while wielding a Giant Hammer.

"Let's see you avoid this one, Speedy!" he taunted. Megaman smirked.

"You're on!" Megaman taunted, jumping straight up into the air at Snapman. He quickly grabbed the handle of the Giant Hammer, pulling it downward and past him, while powerfully kneeing Snapman in the gut. As Snapman's eyes bulged out in pain, Megaman hurled him toward the ground, where he landed hard. Looking up at his opponent, Snapman had no time to react as he saw Megaman hurl the Giant Hammer down toward him. Right before the attack connected, Snapman turned into a beam of light and flew upward, jacking out right before the Hammer smashed into the ground.

"Snapman has been jacked out! Megaman wins!" an announcer shouted into a microphone. The crowd erupted in cheers, as Lan pumped his fist into the air.

"Way to go, Megaman! Snapman never had a chance!"

Jacking Megaman out of the arena, Lan heard a voice from behind him. "Lan!" Turning around, he saw Mayl and Yai running up to him, smiling.

"Mayl! Yai! What are you guys doing here? Are you competing too?"

Yai shook her head. "We didn't find out about this tournament until just now, so we came to cheer you guys on instead!"

Mayl put her hands on her hips. "We had to hear about it from your mom! Why didn't you tell us?"

"Er..." Lan rubbed his head. "I guess it slipped my mind... sorry."

"Well, never mind that." Mayl's expression softened. "We watched a couple matches from outside, since it was too hard to get inside. You just made the semifinals! Congratulations, Lan!"

Lan grinned. "It's all thanks to Megaman, really..."

"Glyde told me that Megaman's really strong," Yai chipped in. "No wonder you made it so far."

"Yea, but it's more than that." Lan pulled out his PET, looking at it. "I've never used a Navi that worked with me so well before; it's like he's made to fit my battle style perfectly."

Megaman grinned and gave a thumbs-up. "Two peas in a pod, right, Lan?"

Lan grinned and nodded back, as Mayl grabbed his sleeve and started to pull him along gently. "Come on! Dex's match is supposed to be happening over this way. Let's go see!"

Lan nodded, and the three headed off for another part of the arcade. As Lan walked, however, something caught his eye; he turned his head toward the other arena and saw a familiar, silver-and-black haired sight.

"Hey, it's him! The guy from the other day, at Yai's place!" Mayl and Yai looked over, to see Eugene Chaud standing at one of the Cyber arenas.

"It is!" Yai exclaimed. "What's he doing here?"

"He's at the arena... could he be competing?" He started to walk over, but felt a tug on his arm.

"Lan, we'll miss Dex's match," Mayl reminded; Lan relented and headed over toward Dex's match, which was quite crowded. Unable to get close enough to see the match firsthand, they resigned themselves to looking up at a large television screen in the wall like many others.

"This doesn't look good..." was Lan's first comment; indeed, it looked quite bad for Dex. While his opponent's Navi, a humanoid being with a wolf-like head, a deep slouch, and long, sharp claws, was looking a little worse for wear, Gutsman was a complete mess. He had visible claw marks all over his frame, and one of his eyes was closed; he was breathing heavily.

With a growl, his opponent dashed toward Gutsman, claws extended and glowing slightly.

"Guts Punch!" Gutsman called out, raising his fist for one more attack. His opponent's claws suddenly flashed bright white, blinding the screen for an instant; when everyone uncovered their eyes to look at what had happened, Gutsman was standing, wide-eyed, in attack position, while the wolf-like Navi had its claws deep in Gutsman's torso.

"Gutsman!" Dex cried out, before angrily tugging the cord out of the Cyber arena; on screen, Gutsman turned into a beam of light and disappeared upward, jacking out.

"Gutsman has jacked out! The winner is Takeo Inukai, with his Navi Beastman!"

The crowd erupted with cheers, as Dex tended to restoring Gutsman, an angry grimace on his face. The trio of observers walked over to their defeated friend.

"I'm sorry, Dex," Mayl offered. "You did really well, you were in the top four..."

"Yea, yea," Dex grumbled, walking past them. "There was definitely something fishy about that fight..." The three watched him go, clearly wanting to be alone, while Yai stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well, he didn't have to be so rude!" She hmphed and folded her arms.

"Something fishy, huh..." Lan thought backward to the battle, but he hadn't seen enough of it to make a sound judgment.

"What do you think, Lan?" Mayl inquired. "Could Beastman have been cheating?"

"I guess we'll find out in the next match... he and I are supposed to fight." He pulled out his PET and looked at Megaman, who shrugged his shoulders, equally stumped.

* * *

"Attention everybody! The semifinal rounds are about to begin! Here in Arena A, we have Takeo Inukai with his Beastman..."

Cheers came from the crowd, as Takeo simply nodded.

"...versus Lan Hikari, and his Navi, Megaman!"

An equal number of cheers erupted from the crowd, topped off by Mayl and Yai yelling "Go, Lan!" in tandem, pumping their fists into the air repeatedly. Lan grinned and waved at them before turning his attention to the battle, jacking Megaman into the arena; his opponent did the same, and Megaman began staring Beastman down in the Cyberworld.

"Are the competitors ready? Then let the battle begin!"

Megaman and Beastman immediately dashed toward each other, Megaman readying his buster for attack, as Beastman got his claws ready to strike. As Megaman raised his buster, Beastman's claws suddenly produced a white flash, and Megaman suddenly found himself unable to move a muscle, his body tingling and vibrating all over.

"Wha...?" In the next instant, Megaman found Beastman right on top of him, ready to strike. He yelped and managed to grab his claws right at the last minute.

"What? What did you just do?" Megaman demanded; Beastman grinned an evil grin, baring a mouth full of pointed teeth.

"Megaman... I've waited some time to be able to battle you, you know..." Megaman summoned some strength from inside him, managing to shove Beastman away.

"You what? What is that supposed to mean?" Not missing a beat, he fired at Beastman with his buster, getting in a few shots here and there as Beastman ran about, deflecting some buster shots with his claws. Beastman ran forward, swiping repeatedly at Megaman, who produced a sword and started blocking Beastman's attacks.

"What do you think it means, fool?" Beastman taunted, sweeping his leg out to try and trip Megaman, who jumped over it. "It means you're still on our list... and I have the honor of getting to take care of you, by Dr. Wily's request."

Megaman's eyes widened. "You're with World Three! You mean you entered this tournament just to take me out?"

Beastman grinned, raising his claw. "Now you're catching on." With another flash, Megaman found himself again momentarily paralyzed, as Beastman took a painful swipe at his face.

"Gah!" Megaman grabbed his face, as Beastman delivered a powerful kick to Megaman's chest, knocking him backward. As Megaman sat up, he saw Beastman running toward him.

"Lan, something's definitely fishy here! Whenever Beastman flashes his claws, I can't move a muscle! He's paralyzing me somehow!"

"What?!" Lan exclaimed. "What are we supposed to do about that?"

Megaman didn't have time to answer, as Beastman jumped toward him, his fists clasped together and ready to come down. Megaman readied his sword, but a third flash set him tingling and immobile once again, as Beastman brought his fists down onto Megaman's head. Megaman was knocked completely flat, as Beastman stood above him.

"What... there weren't even any claws that time..." Megaman remarked, as Beastman laughed an evil laugh.

"Megaman! I've got one Recovery 50 chip here! I'm using it now!"

Megaman blinked, looking up and seeing something that caught his interest. "No... not yet..."

Beastman extended his claws, pointing them toward Megaman's throat. "This was pathetically easy... I was hoping for a real fight." He raised his claws. "At least with you gone, nobody will stand in the way of-"

BLAM! Megaman suddenly extended his buster and fired; the shot sailed clear past Beastman and into the air, where it collided with a medium-sized, black device and exploded.

Beastman's eyes widened, as he looked upward toward the wreckage above them. "No! You..."

He was forced to jump out of the way as the apparatus fell to the ground; Megaman rolled out of the way just in time, as Lan sent him the Recovery 50. When the smoke cleared, the remnants of a computerized device, including a large lightbulb and a speaker, were clearly visible. The watching crowd gasped.

"Seems like I've found the secret to your Netbattling, Beastman," Megaman said with a smirk. "A blinding flash, combined with a paralyzing, resonant frequency. Can't believe someone like you would stoop so low..."

"Megaman seems to have revealed a sort of paralyzing device being used by Beastman!" the announcer cried out, incredulous. "A clear violation of the rules of the tournament! Beastman is disqualified!"

"Grr... no!" Beastman cried out, charging again. "I WILL delete you, Megaman!" Megaman watched him approach, then suddenly disppeareed with an Area Steal. He appeared right in front of Beastman, digging his elbow powerfully into Beastman's torso. His enemy's eyes bulged, as Beastman grasped his torso and fell to the ground before being jacked out.

Lan looked up to see a tournament organizer, who had forcefully jacked Beastman out, handing the PET cable to its operator. "Cheaters aren't welcome at this establishment. You will leave now." Inukai stared at the organizer for a minute, before grabbing the cable and leaving in a huff, muttering under his breath.

"Inukai has been disqualified! Lan and Megaman advance to the finals!" The crowd erupted in cheers again, as Lan cheered and jacked Megaman out.

"So you made it to the finals," came a voice from behind; Lan whirled around to find Chaud standing behind him. "Looks like it'll be you and me then." He nonchalantly walked to the opposite jack-in station, pulling out his cord; Lan noticed that Chaud was wearing a different jacket, one without his Official insignia.

"It appears that both finalists are ready to get right to work! Alright then, let's get introduced!"

"On the left is Lan Hikari, with his powerful blue Navi, Megaman!" Lan jacked in his Navi amidst the cheers, sending a full-strength Megaman into the Cyber arena.

"And on the right, Eugene Chaud, with his red swordsman, Protoman!" Chaud calmly inserted his cord into the jack-in port, as the bladed and shaded Protoman appeared opposite Megaman.

"I hope you're ready for this battle, Megaman," Protoman stated.

Megaman grinned and got into a defensive stance. "Ready when you are!"

"Are the contestants ready?" the announcer inquired. "Then let the battle begin!"

* * *

Immediately, both Navis dashed toward each other, each producing a Sword and getting ready to strike. As they met in the middle of the arena, Megaman jabbed his sword toward his opponent; expecting a block, Protoman instead jumped into the air above and behind Megaman. Megaman quickly turned and started firing his buster toward Protoman, who skillfully deflected every shot with his sword. The last shot he swiped at, however, exploded into a cloud of smoke, screening Protoman's vision as he landed.

"Shotgun!" he exclaimed, looking around. "Where did you go..."

Hearing footsteps from his left, he quickly turned to meet a surprisingly strong sword swipe from Megaman that knocked him off balance; Megaman continued with a strong kick to the jaw, sending Protoman backward; he did a quick backflip and landed on his feet.

"Not bad, Megaman," he stated. "But if you think that's the best I've got, think again." Protoman suddenly vanished, and Megaman instinctively looked up, but was surprised to find nothing there.

"Fool!" he heard from behind him; Megaman quickly turned and was greeted with a sword swipe to the face. Grabbing the injury, he jumped backward.

"Deja vu," he muttered, readying his sword as Protoman dashed toward him. To Megaman's surprised, a Wide Sword appeared on Protoman's other arm, as he brought both swords down toward him in a large X. Reacting quickly, Megaman raised his sword to meet Protoman's blades, which connected with a mighty clang, and a shoving match ensued. While Megaman pushed hard, holding up his sword with his other hand, Protoman bore down on him powerfully with his blades, bringing Megaman down on one knee.

"Damn," Megaman muttered to himself. "If only we had a spare moment to focus on a Life Sword..."

Protoman raised an eyebrow. "A Life Sword, huh?"

Megaman blinked. "What? You heard me?" To Megaman's greater surprise, Protoman suddenly jumped backward, landing quite a distance away from Megaman.

"You think you can defeat me with a Life Sword, do you?"

"Erm..." Megaman stammered, confused, as Protoman let his swords lay to rest at his sides.

"Very well, then. I'll give you your chance; you've got one try to produce a Life Sword." Protoman did his best beckoning gesture he could. "Give it your best shot."

"Lan, what should we do? You think it's a trick?"

"I don't know," Lan replied. "But if we can pull it off, there's no way he can stand up to it. Let's give it our best shot!"

Megaman nodded, as the crowd goggled at the break in the action, muttering to themselves.

"It appears the fighters have stopped for now!" the announcer was saying; Lan put it out of his mind, trying to focus and synchronize himself with his Navi, a task he found difficult, as he was quite nervous.

"Sword!" he announced, slotting in another Sword chip; the Sword on Megaman's arm reformed.

"Wide Sword!" he called out, slotting it in; Megaman held out his arm, and a Wide Sword appeared on it. Lan's hand was nearly trembling as he grabbed his last chip, trying his bet to focus despite being a mix of nervous and excited.

"Long Sword!" he declared with his slot-in, as Megaman held his swords above his head; they started to glow a bright blue and combine, forming a tall blade of light.

"Hyaah!" Megaman swung his sword down vertically, and a shockwave of blue energy headed toward Protoman. As it got closer, however, the pillar of energy began to grow weaker and weaker.

"No...!" Lan clenched his fist as the Life Sword approached Protoman, a shadow of its former self; Protoman took his sword and cut through it, dissipating it completely.

"Just as I expected." Protoman tutted as he raised his swords above his head, where they started to glow. "Let me show you what a real Program Advance looks like!"

In almost an instant, his arms were a massive, bright pillar of blue light. Without missing a beat, he swung the blade horizontally, sending a shockwave toward Megaman. Lan tried to send Megaman a Barrier, but it was useless, as the Life Sword reached Megaman in an instant, cutting him cleanly in half, his eyes wide.

"Megaman!" Lan cried out alarmedly, jacking his Navi out for safety.

"An incredible attack! Lan has jacked out Megaman; Chaud and Protoman are the champions!"

Lan was deaf to the massive cheers that erupted, staring into the screen of his PET, looking for some indication that Megaman would be alright. Chaud, cool and collected as ever, jacked Protoman out and headed toward the tournament organizers to collect his prize money. Mayl, Yai and Dex ran up to Lan, as his PET indicated that Megaman had been succesfully jacked out, and was being repaired.

"Lan..." Mayl began, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "What... what happened? What were Megaman and Protoman talking about?"

Lan, still dumbfounded, said nothing; he instead turned to look at Chaud's retreating back, and an angry frown grew on his face. Not saying a word, he ran off toward Chaud.

"Lan...!" Mayl called out. He ignored her and continued running, stopping right behind Chaud.

"Hey, you!" he shouted. "What the heck were you even doing here? You just trying to take out your competition so you can be the hero more often?! What the hell?!"

Chaud stopped walking, not looking back. "I came here to prove a point to you, Lan Hikari. That the Officials do not need, nor want, your help."

Lan blinked, not expecting a reponse, as Chaud continued.

"As you can see, we are plenty strong enough to take care of the messes that World Three creates, and we don't need you to interfere and make enemies. At best, you're a nuisance; at worst, you're a danger to yourself, your friends, and everyone else in Den City with your constant meddling."

Chaud turned his head and looked backward toward Lan. "Do us all a favor. Next time something goes wrong, go home, and let us do our job. You're not needed."

Lan stared, dumbfounded and insulted, as Chaud walked off; behind him, Mayl, Yai and Dex watched him leave as well.

* * *

Far away, Dr. Wily rode an elevator up to his domain, going over his various plans in his head. When he opened the door, his eyes widened in shock at the scene in front of him.

His office was completely trashed. Everything electronic had been reduced to smouldering wreckage, and the large screen in the back wall was blaring static, along with many other screens. Coughing, he waved his hand to clear the smoke, walking forward.

"What is this? What's happened?" he demanded from whoever was in the room. As if in response, the large screen suddenly switched from static to an image of a familiar black, cloaked Navi.

"You!" Dr. Wily exclaimed. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"Perhaps you could explain that to me, Wily," the Navi responded. The screen suddenly changed to show a blueprint, written out in Dr. Wily's handwriting. Highlighted was a rather troubling portion; where the LifeVirus had once been placed before, it was crossed out and replaced with a humanoid shape, with the words "equally powerful Navi" written above it.

"According to this, you expect to use a powerful Navi to extract the energy necessary to create the creature. And according to your calculations, someone around my strength should do just fine, isn't that right?"

"Bass! No!" Wily replied, incredulous. "You misunderstand! Those plans are-"

"Save your breath," Bass interrupted. "I should have known better than to trust humans. You should pray that we never cross paths again, you pathetic creature." Bass turned and left, and with a crackle, the screen switched once again to static. Dr. Wily quickly ran over to an intercom on the wall, jamming the buttons, and was pleased to find it still worked.

"Everyone! We have a serious emergency!" he cried out into the intercom. "Bass has run off into the Net! We must manage to return him here at all costs! Move now!" He hung up the intercom and turned back to the mess of his office, fuming at this derailing of his plans.


	8. Chapter 8: No Time To Hesitate

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 1: New Origins_

* * *

Chapter 8: No Time To Hesitate

"So Protoman was... testing you?" Mayl pondered.

Lan shrugged, as he looked solemnly out the window of the cable car that was taking them home; Dex had stayed at the arcade for more battles, and Yai had gotten her own ride home. "Testing me, taunting me, one of those things... I don't know."

He sighed and sat back in his seat. "What I do know is that Chaud was there just so he could break me down at my best. He wants me to know that I'm out of the picture, I guess."

"Maybe he's right, Lan," Mayl offered. "You don't want enemies in World Three... you could get hurt, you know."

"I know..." Lan looked up. "But I could really make a difference, too..."

"I'm sure the Officials will be able to take care of things," Mayl reassured him. "Chaud was able to stop the Gospel attack on Yai's house, remember? I'm sure that they can do it. You don't have to make Megaman fight."

"Maybe..." Lan glanced down toward his PET, which had finished repairing Megaman a few minutes ago. "When I first saw how strong Megaman was, when he fought Elecman... I thought maybe that was the reason I had Megaman, so I could protect people from evil." He sat back again, looking out the window as the Den City Hospital came into view a few blocks off. "Maybe there's something else the two of us are meant for."

Inside Lan's PET, Megaman was also deep in thought, considering the events of the past couple weeks, along with the result of his battle against Protoman.

_This confirms it; the Officials are more able than Lan and I_, he thought to himself. _I guess I shouldn't worry about having to save the day anymore... or should I...?_

He looked up through the screen to the real world, watching Lan and Mayl converse. _Should we just be running away instead? Would waiting for the Officials really be safest when all is said and done? And would it be right to let a World Three or Gospel Navi escape, if we could have taken him down?_

He rubbed his head. _Those are some questions I can't answer by myself. Maybe I should talk about it with Lan..._

Megaman opened his mouth, but didn't get the chance to speak, as a bright light filled the screen; the next instant, all hell broke loose.

* * *

It all seemed to happen in an instant; the front of the cable car was flung backward as a massive fireball exploded from beneath the car. As the car was forcefully separated from the cables, it fell back and hit the ground, skidding to a stop against the sidewalk, as onlookers shrieked and ran out of the way. No one on the cable car even had time to scream before it was over, the front of the car twisted and smouldering.

Having first been thrown forward into the seat in front, then backwards into the roof of the car, Lan slowly managed to sit up, feeling himself surrounded by destroyed leather and broken glass, as he heard a recorded voice in the background amidst the screams of people outside: "...know the might of Gospel! There is no safety from our..." The recording faded in and out.

"What the... agh..." He could feel a sharp pain in his back and head, and felt something running down his cheek; he grabbed at it, then looked back at his hand to see it wearing a fair amount of blood. He had been cut badly, and suspected he may have been mildly concussed.

"Gospel... those bastards..."

"Lan!" he heard Megaman scream. "Are you alright?!" Lan reached down for his PET, looking into the screen; Megaman recoiled at the sight of Lan. "Jesus! What happened there?!"

"Gospel... I think..." Lan rubbed his head, which ached fiercely; he could tell he must have smashed it hard. "Looks like they set a land mine or something..."

"Is everyone okay?"

"I'm... I'll be fine, and..." His eyes suddenly went wide with realization, and he quickly looked around. "Mayl? Mayl?!"

Throwing his PET back into his belt holster, Lan managed to get to his sore but undamaged feet, looking around the car. Kicking torn-apart seats out of his way, he saw a familiar arm loosely lying on the floor, connected to something out of sight.

"Mayl!" Lan ran over quickly to find Mayl's body lying laxly on the ground, her eyes closed; he bent down to inspect her more carefully. Her arm, contorted at a strange angle, had clearly been broken, and a window near her head had received an enormous, circular crack, with a thin layer of blood adorning the middle.

"No...!" He lifted Mayl's head so it pointed up, and could see her bleeding liberally from a large laceration on the side of her forehead. He bent down to check her vitals, and breathed a small sigh of relief to hear her still breathing.

"Lan!" Megaman called again. "What's happened to Mayl?!"

"She's hurt," Lan responded, pulling his PET back out, Mayl's head resting on his leg. "Really bad... she needs a doctor, right now."

"I'm sure the ambulances will get there soon..." Megaman offered reassuringly.

"Will they?" Lan wondered aloud, as he took his bandanna off his head, wrapping it around Mayl's cut. "It's going to take a few minutes for them to just figure out what happened down here..." He looked up toward the back window of the bus, groaning at the pain in his back; he could see the hospital from here still, just a few blocks away. He reached for Mayl's PET, which was trapped underneath her; pulling it out, he groaned when he saw the entire thing had been smashed, broken surely beyond repair.

"Dammit." He pulled out his own PET, reaching into his pocket and searching for something, which he managed to pull out. He had gotten this wireless jack-in antenna a while ago in case of an emergency, and if anything counted as an emergency, it was this.

"Megaman, I need you to do something quick." Lan plugged the antenna into the expansion port on his PET, looking for wireless signals and finding a couple. He couldn't operate Megaman with this device in use, but he could at least keep in contact.

"Anything," Megaman replied. "What is it?"

"Mayl's PET is completely busted. I need you to jack in and find Mayl's house; tell her mom what happened, and that I've taken her to Den City Hospital."

"Wait, you're taking her?"

"Yes." Lan leaned down and, with difficulty, managed to get Mayl onto his back; the pressure on his injured back was great, but he put it completely out of his mind as he kneeled down, Mayl's limp frame leaning against him. "I can't just sit here and wait for somebody else to save us. I can't hesitate when lives are at stake; I have to do something."

Megaman nodded in understanding, not wasting any time in jacking into one of the nearby stations and heading toward Den Net City. Lan stood up, holding up Mayl by the legs, and looked for an exit; he saw an emergency exit in the roof of the car, and kicked it open, leaping out and quickly starting to skate to his destination.

* * *

Back in Den Net City, he could see Navi running about and jacking out left and right; in here, as well, there had been a large explosion of some sort, just near where he had jacked in. Clearly, whatever caused this had done so from the Cyberworld. Megaman started running down the street, looking for familiar directions to the suburb of ACDC.

As he turned one corner, he was knocked over by a legion of orange Official Navis, all heading in the same direction; as he looked up, he could see Protoman at the lead, barking orders.

"Split up and search, everyone!" he yelled as they headed toward the explosion. "The Gospel Navi that did this must be around here somewhere! Report about anything suspicious you find!"

Megaman watched them go, pondering running along before remembering what Lan had told him about Chaud's words. He shook his head and stood up, running back off in the other direction. He'd just have to place trust in the Officials, and their ability to take care of things; besides, he had a job to do.

He turned another corner, trying once again to locate familiar territory, hoping to find his way back toward the suburb of ACDC, and to Mayl's parents.

* * *

Back in the real world, Lan skated along sidewalks and through streets, trying to get to his destination as quickly as he could. Cars were backed up for as far as he could see in either direction, so he had no trouble getting through red lights.

From behind him, he felt Mayl stir a little bit; he could feel her head on his shoulder, looking around lazily, slightly delirious. "Unh... what... what happened... everything hurts..."

"It was a Gospel trap," Lan replied, as a group of girls shrieked at him and jumped quickly out of his way. "They blew up the cable car we were riding."

"Where... where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to the hospital, Mayl." Lan quickly skirted around a car parked at a red light, seeing the hospital get nearer. "You're going to be just fine, Mayl, don't worry... I'll get you there in time..."

Mayl smiled a little, barely conscious. "Lan... thank you..." She shifted a little bit on his back, leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek. "I know you'll take care of me..." She drifted off again.

Lan nodded to himself in response; he would take care of her, and all of his friends. He would never again let a terrorist hurt the people he cared about; he was going to take action, no matter what Officials tried to tell him otherwise.

He sped up even more, ignoring his pain completely and pushing himself to the limit as he sped down the sidewalk.

* * *

Megaman, despite having equal resolve, was faced with significantly less direction. Everything looked the same to him, and nobody would offer him directions; everyone he saw was jacking out quickly, under the orders that were blasting from everywhere he could hear.

"All Navis must jack out immediately. There is no cause for alarm. This is merely a precaution," the voice sounded over and over. Megaman cursed it, wondering exactly how he was going to find what he was looking for, when he collided with a second Navi, falling backward toward the ground. Rubbing his head and looking up, he saw himself looking at a familiar face.

"Megaman!" Roll quickly got to her feet, offering Megaman a hand.

"Roll! What are you doing here? Aren't you with Mayl?"

Roll shook her head. "Mayl lent me to her mom; she needed to get some errands done. What's wrong? You look flustered..."

"There's been an accident..." Megaman started, a bit rushed. "No... not an accident... Gospel... there's been a serious attack. Mayl's hurt..."

"What?!" Roll's face filled with fear. "Is she alright?!"

"She'll be okay, Lan's taking her to the hospital. I need you to tell Mayl's mom where she is... and Lan's, if you could."

Roll nodded, clearly agitated. "Absolutely. Are you coming too?"

Megaman shook his head. "I'm going to get back to Lan, he may need my help. Thanks a ton, Roll."

Roll nodded, before quickly turning around and speeding off in the blink of an eye. Megaman turned to head back, following the signal of Lan's antenna, when he heard a loud explosion right next to him. Jumping away, he saw the large building next to him start to shake and crumble. Looking up toward the top, he could barely make out a very familiar cloaked Navi.

"Him?! What's he doing here? I thought it was Gospel that was attacking..." Megaman watched the Navi leap away from the building, his fist glowing with an awesome power; he smashed it into the next building, which started shaking as well.

Megaman's first instinct, after the beatdown he received from Protoman, was to go and tell the Officials, but he suddenly recalled Lan's words from earlier.

_I can't just sit here and wait for somebody else to save us. I can't hesitate when lives are at stake; I have to do something._

As he remembered Lan's injured face, and Mayl's limp form, his gaze suddenly turned steely and determined. This was one terrorist that wasn't going to get away.

On top of the building, Bass fired an energy blast into the building next to him, sending the top two floors crumbling down.

"Wily, that coward," he mused to himself, furious. "Thinking he can just use me as part of his plan... ME, of all things!"

He walked to the edge of the building he stood on. "I don't need him to exact my revenge... I can start my campaign of fear on my own, right here, right now."

He jumped to get to the next building, but was met with a heavy impact to the side of his head, sending him flying into a nearby wall. Opening his eyes and looking around, he leaped forward to the top of the nearby structure, to find a familiar blue Navi waiting for him.

"I don't know who you are, but if you're looking for trouble, you've found some," Megaman taunted. Bass snorted.

"You fool... you think you can defeat me? I'll swat you away like an insect!"

The two ran forward, fists curled, ready for battle.

* * *

Lan, still moving as fast as possible, could see Den City Hospital come into clearer view, just two blocks away now. He had made good time; he couldn't hear any ambulance sirens yet.

"We're almost there, Mayl," he spoke reassuringly, though Mayl was still unconscious on his back. Instead of a response from her, he heard a noise from his PET. Grabbing it quickly, he saw Megaman sliding across a rooftop, flipping up and getting to his feet.

"Megaman! What's going on?" Lan inquired, just as another cloaked Navi came into view.

"This guy... the guy we saw at the tournament. He was destroying buildings in Den Net City," Megaman answered, quickly dodging one of Bass's energy attacks and firing his buster. "He's a lot stronger than Airman was..."

"Hold on, Megaman! I'll be there as soon as I can!" Lan put his PET back and took a turn, heading for the hospital entrance.

* * *

BOOM!

Megaman leapt away toward the next building, as the one he was standing on crumbled from the impact of Bass's powerful fist. Bass followed him, as Megaman fired buster shots; they impacted him, but did little to deter him, and he swatted the last few away with a sword as he landed.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Megaman demanded.

"My name is Bass... I am the most powerful Navi in existence!" Bass responded, floating in the air and holding his palm up in the air, generating a purple wheel of energy. "And it is the pathetic, cowardly, selfish humans that caused me to do this. I am exacting my revenge." Bass hurled the wheel down toward Megaman, who dodged to the right; the wheel followed him, curving to meet its target again. Megaman jumped up onto a raised section of the roof, launching himself forward and smashing Bass in the gut at the same time as his buster shot.

"Well, your revenge stops here!" Megaman yelled out as he landed on the ground, as Bass slowly descended. He glared at Megaman angrily, his large eyes staring at him, as his cloak kept his mouth covered.

"You think you can defeat me? You're severely outclassed, you fool." Bass aimed his outstretched fist at Megaman, as large, purple energy blasts started firing toward Megaman. He managed to dodge one, but the next slammed into him, sending him backwards into the wall of the raised section of the roof. "All you have is that buster of yours... you're no match for me!"

Megaman grabbed his stomach, as Bass readied himself to attack again. He was right; without any backup from Lan, Megaman was going to have a lot of trouble beating Bass. He'd have to hold off as long as he could.

* * *

As the sliding doors of the hospital opened, one of the nurses at the front desk looked toward it and shrieked; a young boy, covered in blood and sporting large bruises, skated in while carrying a limp body on his back.

"We need help... my friend... she was hurt in a Gospel attack on 41st St.," he managed, as the nurse stared in shock. She shook herself out of her reverie and leaned into an intercom.

"ER, this is the front desk, we need EMTs up here with a stretcher and equipment ASAP."

In just about a minute, several doctors in white showed up with a stretcher, an IV, and other equipment; they helped Lan get Mayl down and onto the stretcher, where they immediately began tending to her. Lan breathed a sigh of relief, before doing a 180 and skating right back toward the exit.

"Hey... wait!" the nurse called out. "Where are you going?!"

Lan ignored her, removing the antenna from his PET and looking around for a jack-in point, Battlechip in hand. He quickly found one and plugged his PET into it, slotting the Battlechip in.

Back on the rooftop, Megaman had taken a bit of a beating; though he had done Bass what damage he could, without support, he was useless. As Bass fired another energy ball at Megaman, a Barrier suddenly shot up around him, nullifying Bass's blast.

"Lan!" Megaman cried out. "You're finally back!"

"How's the battle looking?"

"Not good," Megaman responded. "Bass is definitely strong, maybe even stronger than Protoman... we're going to have to pull something big if we're going to stop him." As he said this, Bass rushed forward, punching the barrier and smashing it into a thousand pieces; Megaman yelped and jumped away.

"We've got a shot, but there's only one chance we can do this," Lan replied, fiddling with his Battlechips. "Are you ready?"

Megaman nodded resolutely, knowing exactly what he meant. "Ready when you are, Lan." Lan nodded as well, taking in a deep breath and exhaling. A strong sense of determination filled him, and with it, a strange sense of calm overtook him. He felt completely in control of his emotions, his mind clear with what he had to do. Megaman inhaled at the same time, feeling the same sense of calm and direction.

"Sword!" Lan called out; Megaman's right arm became a sword, with which he dashed forward and swiped at Bass. Not expecting a Battlechip attack, Bass barely dodged it, receiving a knick on his side.

"Gah! You'll pay for that!" He dashed forward, as Lan inserted the next chip.

"Wide Sword!" Megaman quickly leapt out of Bass's way, jumping over him as his other hand transformed as well.

"Long Sword!" Lan called out, as Megaman held his hands above his head, which began to glow. As Bass turned around, his eyes widened at the massive energy residing above Megaman's hand.

"Take this!" Megaman yelled, swiping toward Bass with his Life Sword. The force of the wave was so powerful, it blew away the rubble that was scattered about the rooftop. Bass had no time to react before the Life Sword collided with him, knocking him back as it separated him in half. The Life Sword continued on through the air, disappearing some ways back in a brilliant flash of light.

Bass lay on the ground, his two half completely separated, along with portions of his arm. His expression of surprise remained on his face, as Megaman hunched over, resting his hands on his knees.

"Incredible... we did it, Lan..."

As Megaman walked forward to inspect Bass, another Navi suddenly appeared between them, beaming in.

"Fireman!" Megaman exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"

"My job," Fireman responded, walking over toward Bass and placing his hand on Bass's torso. "You did a good job subduing him for us... but I think we'll take it from here."

"Wait!" Megaman ran forward to accost Fireman, but both Fireman and Bass vanished in twin beams of light; Megaman looked up as they disappeared. "Damn... got away..."

"Well, at least's not going to be hurting anyone anytime soon," Lan chipped in. "That Life Sword... amazing..."

Megaman nodded, spotting something that remained behind after Fireman and Bass had left. "What's this...?" He walked forward and picked it up; it was a small piece of data.

"What's it say?" Lan inquired, as Megaman looked at it from various angles.

"Looks like it's got a web address on it..." Megaman put it away.

"Maybe it's a clue... something World Three related must be going on there. We're going to have to investigate sometime."

Megaman turned to Lan and nodded, grimacing slightly as he looked at Lan through the screen. "Erm... Lan... you should probably get back to the hospital, don't you think?"

Lan suddenly became aware of the world around him once again, feeling the blood run down his cheek and staining his shirt. "Er... yea. Thanks." He jacked Megaman out and turned around toward the hospital, wondering how he was going to explain himself to his mom.

* * *

"Wake up, Bass."

Bass's eyes shot open, as he sat up, feeling his torso with his hand. He had been repaired somehow, and he looked around to survey his surroundings, which were quite familiar.

"You gave us quite a scare." Wily's voice came through an intercom. "Fireman brought you back in two pieces! What the hell were you up to?"

"Wily... you returned me here? What's going on?"

"I rescued you, if that's what you mean. From yourself more than anything."

"From myself?!" Bass stood up, incredulous. "You mean to tell me you weren't plotting my demise from the beginning?!"

"Of course not." Wily pressed a button, and some screens showed up around Bass, showing off some blueprints he hadn't seen before; looking more closely, they were covered in calculations, and featured specifications of Navis that seemed familiar.

"Airman... Freezeman..." Both of these were Gospel Navis, the remains of which Bass had acquired after battles and returned to World Three.

"This is where our powerful Navi will come from," Wily added. "The remains of our enemies... along with a couple of programs garnered from SciLab."

Wily pressed another couple of buttons, bringing his face back to Bass's view. "But I cannot do it without your assistance. You are easily powerful enough to defeat these Gospel Navis... to infiltrate SciLab... I assure you, your revenge on the humans will come, if only we can use your services for a little while longer."

Bass stared Wily down, not used to feeling humbled. He nodded slowly, staring Wily in the eyes.

"Perhaps I have misjudged you," he muttered. "Very well... if our ends remain the same, then... we shall continue this tenuous alliance of ours."

Wily grinned, satisfied. "Glad to hear it." He started pacing about his office. "Now here's what we need you to do next..."


	9. Chapter 9: Red Light, Green Light

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 1: New Origins_

* * *

Chapter 9: Red Light, Green Light

The bus slowed to a stop, as the traffic signal ahead turned yellow, then red. Lan sighed impatiently.

"I can't believe your mom actually let you onto a bus after what happened," Megaman remarked. Lan snickered.

"Well, after she saw me trying to walk the day after, it was a done deal. She insisted I get myself nice and comfortable, even five days later."

Megaman smirked. "It took you this long to convince her just to let you out of the house. Mayl was up and about before you were!"

Lan grinned, as the bus started moving again. "That's more because of Mayl than mom, you know. Twelve stitches, a concussion, and a broken arm, and she's down and out for just two days."

Megaman smiled. "Pretty impressive. I can tell what you see in her, Lan..."

"Huh?" Megaman looked into his PET's screen at Megaman. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, uh... nothing!" Megaman changed tack, waving his hands in front of him. "Just... never mind. Let's stay focused on the task at hand."

Lan nodded, looking out the window as the bus went through another green light. "You're sure you know where we're going?"

"Mhmm." Megaman nodded. "From what I can tell, that part of the Net was closed off, except for a couple of jack-in points downtown. This should take us where we want to go."

"Now we'll get to see what World Three is hiding, whatever it is..." Lan looked down one street boredly, as the bus passed yet another green light.

"Uh, Lan?" Megaman piped up. "Does it seem like we're speeding up to you?"

Lan's eyebrows raised as he took another look outside. Megaman was right; the bus was definitely speeding up. Looking around at the other cars, he could tell they were definitely breaking the speed limit by a little bit. He leaned his head into the middle row of the bus, looking toward the bus driver.

"Hey, aren't we going a bit too fast?" The driver didn't respond; rather, she was fiddling nervously with the controls. Lan looked out the window again, looking down the road; all the lights that he could see were green. The bus continued to speed up, now hitting a rather dangerous speed.

"Something's wrong," he muttered to himself and Megaman; moving to pull out his PET, he was suddenly thrown out of his seat as the bus changed lanes, trying to avoid cars on its own. He landed hard in the middle of the bus.

"Gah!" he exclaimed, as pain shot through his still-sore back. "Ow... what's going on?"

As if to respond, his PET suddenly started ringing. He answered, curious, and found a twenty-something lady looking at him; she was wearing a white-and-red t-shirt, and her red hair was tied into two large balls on either side of her head. She had an amused grin on her face.

"So sorry to trouble you, but I can't have you interfering with Dr. Wily's plans, now can I?"

"What?!" Lan exclaimed, sitting up. "You did this? You're with World Three?"

She laughed under her breath. "Looks like we got the right kid, at least." She gestured to herself. "Iroaya Madd, of the great World Three, that's me!"

Lan got himself back into his seat. "What are you doing? Why is the bus speeding up?"

"You really need to be more careful where you're snooping around, kid." Madd smirked at him. "We knew almost instantly what you were trying to do... so they sent me to ensure you never get the chance."

Lan clenched his fist, as she continued. "You'll reach your destination in just about three minutes. I think you'd best use that time to try and stop yourself from colliding with the other bus going to the same place."

"What?! Are there people on that other bus?!"

She smirked, not answering. "Normally I prefer not to take innocent lives, but I'll do whatever it takes to ensure Dr. Wily meets his ultimate goal. I guess that means I won't be seeing you again for a long time." She blew him a kiss, winking. "Ciao."

Lan cursed as the call ended, running toward the front of the bus. "It's a virus! There's got to be a virus on this bus!"

"I've got the antivirus working on it, but nothing's happening..." The bus driver looked up. "What were you saying about another bus?"

Lan's phone rang again. Telling the driver to hold on, he got it out, to see Dex's face looking back at him.

"Lan! I got trouble!" he exclaimed, a bit panicked. "I was taking the bus down to the arcade, and then it just started speeding up and speeding up!"

"Dammit!" Lan punched the wall. "Dex, there are viruses on that bus! You have to get them all deleted in the next three minutes or else!"

"Or else wh-" Dex started, before Lan hung up, turning to the driver.

"Does this bus have a jack-in port? I can have Megaman help with the viruses!"

"Oh, you're that kid that almost won that Navi tournament five days ago!" the driver exclaimed, looking about. "Er... yea... there's one right here. Good luck!"

Lan nodded as he pulled out his PET's cord, jacking Megaman into the bus's Cyberworld.

* * *

Megaman looked around the rather small Cyberworld for the bus; his initial sweep proved fruitless. His second, however, quickly found a massive, red-polka-dot ball hurtling toward his face.

"Agh!" Megaman was knocked backward, as the ball bounced its way back toward its owner, a red, wide, colorful Navi with a face painted like a clown's. It tucked its feet in under itself, as the ball attached itself to the Navi's base. It landed on the ground, laughing madly to itself as Megaman got up.

"You! You're Madd's Navi, aren't you?" Megaman aimed his buster.

"You betcha!" the Navi replied, spinning around on its ball. "Call me Colorman! And call yourself... deleted!"

Bending over backwards, Colorman put his hands on the ground and focused. Seconds later, a series of large flames began to sprout from the ground, on a direct path toward Megaman. He quickly jumped out of the way, but quickly found himself impacted once again by Colorman's ball.

"Ee hee hee!" Colorman cackled, as Megaman flipped and landed on his feet. "Having a little trouble multitasking?" Extending his hands, he shot large flamethrowers from each palm, starting to spin around at a high speed.

"Lan! I need a Long Sword!" Megaman called out, diving to the ground below Colorman's rotating flames.

"Got it!" Lan said, sending the chip over, as Megaman flipped up and out of the path of Colorman's flamethrowers.

"Hee hee! Another blunder!" Colorman cackled, standing on his hands and firing his ball in Megaman's direction. Megaman aimed himself toward Colorman, his arm extended, and speared the ball on the length of his sword, much to Colorman's surprise.

"How about a taste of your own medicine?" Megaman taunted, flinging the ball back at Colorman, who was knocked onto his back. Expecting a groan of pain, Megaman was surprised to hear Colorman laughing again.

"What? What's so funny?" Megaman demanded, before receiving another powerful blow from the back, knocking him onto his face. Quickly rolling around to find his assailant, he found himself face-to-face with a second Colorman, identical to the first, but colored blue, and with a blue-polka-dotted ball.

"What the...?" Megaman looked around, realizing that there were indeed two Colormen attacking him, as the blue one cackled.

"Get it, Megaman?" It raised its hands into the air, swinging itself back and forth. "One Colorman, two Colorman, red Colorman, blue Colorman!"

He swung forward all the way, slamming his hands onto the ground, whereupon a massive geyser erupted underneath Megaman. As he was flung into the air, the red Colorman turned both his hands toward Megaman, firing his flamethrowers in his direction and engulfing the blue Navi.

When the smoke cleared, they found Megaman in a defensive position, a Barrier surrounding him as he fell toward the ground.

"Lan, are you getting this? There's two of this guy!"

"I know, I saw!" Lan replied. "Does Madd have two PETs or what? How is she doing this?"

"Nope nope nope!" the blue Colorman replied. "It's our special ability; we split into two!"

"One of us controls the bus..." the red one continued.

"And the other takes the traffic lights!" the blue one finished.

"But together, we'll defeat you!" the red one added, firing his ball at Megaman again. Panicking slightly, Megaman fell backward, kicking the ball up as it headed toward him. The ball changed direction and smashed heavily into the blue Colorman, whose reaction time was extremely slow.

"Huh? It didn't even try to dodge..." Megaman's eyes lit up. "Lan, I think I realized something! I don't think Madd can control both of these guys at once!" He hopped up onto his feet, as Lan grinned.

"So if she's attacking with one, we can probably attack the other!"

"Let's try it!" Megaman exclaimed, as the blue Colorman prepared a retaliatory attack. Placing his hands on the ground, he prepared a massive geyser that sent Megaman into the air once again. Instead of defending himself, Megaman whirled around and fired a Cannon directly into the red one's face; he took it full force, falling backward as Megaman laughed.

"Uh oh, he's figured out our secret!" the blue one sighed, in a sing-song voice.

"Guess we better go to Plan B," the red one replied, hopping back up. The two Navis hopped toward each other, grabbing hands and glowing a bright white; Megaman shielded his eyes. When he looked up, there stood one Colorman, colored yellow and sporting a red-and-blue-dotted ball.

"Now I'll get you good!" he taunted, firing his ball at Megaman again. As Megaman prepared to dodge, the ball suddenly split into two, flying off in two directions and bouncing around the bus's Cyberworld. Megaman looked around, trying to follow both of them, when they both suddenly hurtled toward him from either side, squishing him in between.

"Gah!" Megaman fell to his knees, sore from the impact, as Colorman laughed. He put one hand on the ground; while Megaman rolled to avoid the resultant geyser, he was caught in another and flung upward, where he was torched by Colorman's flamethrower.

"Ah ha ha ha! Give up yet?" Colorman asked, as Megaman fell to the floor, lightly scorched. As he slowly got up to his knees, he looked up to see Colorman aiming his ball once again. "You won't survive my dual nature much longer!"

As Colorman prepared to fire, the entire bus decelerated instantly, sending Colorman flying as Megaman grabbed to hold on. In the real world, Lan and the driver were thrown against the front of the bus.

"Ugh... what happened?" Lan looked back toward the intersection they had just passed; they had just run through a red light, and the computerized, automatic walkways had caught them, slowing them greatly.

"The traffic lights!" he exclaimed. "With the two of them as one, there's nobody to change them all to green!"

Colorman, who had realized his mistake instantly, slowly rubbed his head and turned around, to see Megaman jumping right toward him, Long Sword outstretched.

"Ha! You left yourself open!" he called out, bringing his sword down; Colorman rolled out of the way, but Megaman still managed to catch his water arm, cutting it off completely.

"Agh! My arm! You got my arm!" Colorman hopped up onto his ball. "I'll get you for that!" He leaned back to fire his ball again, but was unstable on one arm, and the ball fired rather lazily at Megaman.

"Haah!" Megaman dashed forward and sliced it in half, both halves falling uselessly to the floor as Colorman landed on his feet again.

"Noo! My ball! What have you done!" He dashed forward, ready to strike again, when he suddenly disappeared upward in a flash of light. Megaman blinked and looked upward after him.

"Jacked out...?" He turned to Lan. "Lan! Colorman's gone! We have to try to stop the bus!"

"Got it!" Lan turned to report to the driver, but she was already braking with all her might, sending Lan forward into the windshield again. Looking up, he saw that they had arrived at the intersection Megaman had told him about; looking down the street, he saw the other bus, decelerating but heading toward them nonetheless.

* * *

Lan's bus finally came to a stop in the middle of the intersection; the other bus made one last push to slow down, running into Lan's bus at a very small speed, rattling everyone on board. Bags went flying into the aisle, quickly followed by their owners, as others grabbed onto the handles near their seats to try and stay upright.

Breathing heavily, the bus driver looked up to see that they had stopped, hearing the sounds of car horns all around. Looking over, she saw the second bus had impacted their door, but not enough to cause any serious damage.

"Phew..." she exhaled. "We did it..." Looking up toward Lan, she was surprised to find him gone.

"Hey! Where did you go?" She stood up, looking into the aisle to find him, and instead finding the few other passengers, clamoring to either get up or get out. Looking toward the side, she saw one of the emergency exit windows had been opened.

Outside, Lan ran as fast as he could away from the bus, heading toward one of the jack-in points that Megaman had specified.

"Phew... almost didn't get out in time. Don't need us detained and asked a million questions..." Lan came to rest in an alley, catching his breath and getting out his PET to talk to Megaman.

"Yea... that sounds like something they'd do, huh?" Megaman added. "Good thing Dex got the viruses off of his bus..."

"They'll probably ask him all about what happened," Lan thought. "And in the meantime, we'll be hot on World Three's trail!"

"What?" Megaman inquired. "You still want to check this place out?"

"You bet!" Lan answered. "We've worked too hard today to turn back now. We've come all the way down here, we should keep going! We could find something major down here!"

"Well... alright." Megaman nodded. "You sure seem fired up about this..."

Lan nodded back. "The sooner we stop World Three, the sooner they stop trying to hurt me and my friends."

"Alright, let's keep going," Megaman replied, rubbing his shoulder. "Just let me recharge for a few minutes, okay? That flamethrower really stings."

Lan grinned and nodded, putting his PET back into his holster and skating down the street.


	10. Chapter 10: Unstable Alliance

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 1: New Origins_

* * *

Chapter 10: Unstable Alliance

In a flash of light, Megaman appeared in the Cyberworld at the location he'd picked out. Looking around, he found himself in a secure building; a window to the outside showed he was in Den Net City, but there were no doors at all.

"This is definitely the place!" he reported back to Lan. "There's no other way to get here besides jacking in directly! Well, besides the other jack-in point, that is."

Lan, who was jacked in deep in an alley in downtown Den City, nodded. "Pretty shady area... probably perfect for a Netmafia, huh..."

Megaman looked out the window; it was a pretty shady part of the Net as well. Plenty of sinister-looking Navis were hanging around, mostly centered in two large groups on either side of the street. One of them suddenly tossed a Minibomb at the other group.

"All hail Gospel!" it shouted.

"Shut up, you Gospel scum!" shouted a Navi from the other side. "All glory to World Three!" The two groups ran at each other, ready for battle, when a group of Official Navis ran in and started blasting. Megaman turned away.

"Definitely not a good sign," he muttered to himself. "Let's keep checking this place out."

"Where does this place go, anyway?"

Megaman looked away from the streets of the Cyberworld, toward a hallway, which he started walking down. "I'm not sure, but we're going to find out, I guess."

"Stay on your guard, Megaman," Lan cautioned; Megaman nodded, holding a Sword by his side. Following the hallway, he soon found himself in a large room; it appeared to be a meeting room, given its accolades, but there was no one to be found.

"Shoot... this may just be a dead end." Megaman looked around. "Looks like this place is a bit abandoned..."

He cut himself off, as he noticed some motion off to his left; turning quickly, he found two Mettool viruses running toward him. Expecting to defend himself, Megaman was rather surprised when they scuttled right past, heading further into the building and ignoring him completely.

"Megaman, what is it?" Lan inquired.

"Just a couple Mettools... acting pretty funny, though..." Megaman started to follow them deeper into the building.

"Hold it, you!" he heard a voice call from behind; whirling around, he saw a familiar red Navi dashing at him with a Wide Sword.

"Protoman!" Megaman responded, bringing up his sword to defend himself; the swords met with a clang, as Protoman angrily stared Megaman down, not relenting. "What are you doing here?!"

"What are YOU doing here?!" Protoman demanded. "Shall I take this as proof that you're involved with Gospel?!"

"Gospel? What are you talking about?" Megaman replied, forcing Protoman back. "I was just following the lead I got! I thought this was a World Three hideout!"

Protoman frowned, standing down and letting his sword fall to his side, as Chaud's voice cut in. "I don't care how you found this place, but I want you to leave, and now. I told you to stay out of this and leave it to the Officials."

"What the hell is your problem?!" Lan shot back. "We're trying to help you guys, you know! Why is it so important that the Officials take care of it?!"

"Because it's my job to do it, and you're just doing it out of spite," Chaud responded. "We know what we're doing; we're not taking this as some sort of personal vendetta."

"Personal?!" Lan spat out, incredulous. "You're one to talk about it being personal, pal! You didn't have to see you and your friends get hurt in a cable car bombing, now did you?!"

"What...?" Chaud's voice was a bit less strong this time; Lan continued, undeterred.

"I've got ten stitches on my cheek right now! My friend Mayl could have died; I had to take her over to the hospital myself! And where were the Officials then?! Know what you're doing, my ass!"

"Lan, calm down!" Megaman cautioned, as Protoman bristled.

"You insolent punk! You have no right to speak to Master Chaud that way!"

"Protoman." Chaud spoke sternly, as Protoman looked up; he stilled his tongue at the rebuke, as Megaman looked on in surprise.

"Alright, fine," Chaud continued. "You can investigate with us, for now. But on one condition: you have to do as I tell you to. I'm in charge here, understand?"

Lan felt like pressing the issue, but there was something about Chaud's voice; it seemed a bit troubled, no longer so arrogant and sure. Lan swallowed his pride and nodded. "Alright... you're in charge."

"Lead the way, Protoman," Chaud ordered. The Navi nodded, heading further into the building, where the two Mettools had gone; Megaman followed close behind.

* * *

The hallway soon turned into a stairway, headed downward. Megaman looked ahead, trying to see the end, as Protoman started walking forward.

"A stairway? In the Net?" Megaman pondered.

"We're leaving the general Net," Protoman responded, as Megaman started following him down the stairs. "We'll soon find ourselves in a large computer system, I believe."

Megaman nodded, his face lost in thought. "But why would World Three need to be linked directly to the Net? They don't seem to have any shortage of operators to travel..."

"That's the second time you've called it a World Three hideout," Protoman mentioned, turning his head. "Master Chaud has investigated this location; it is most definitely owned and operated by Gospel."

"I got this web address off of a World Three Navi, when he was attacking Den City five days ago," Megaman responded. "He was wearing a cloak and called himself Bass."

"Bass?!" Protoman stopped and whirled around. "Was he a black Navi, very strong?"

Megaman blinked, not expecting that reaction. "Er... yea... really strong. I had to use a Life Sword to defeat him, then a World Three Navi came and retrieved him."

"That's ridiculous," Chaud called out from the real world. "Bass and World Three working together, it makes no sense."

"He must be. At that tournament, it was Bass who defeated that Gospel Navi; he said something about taking it to Wily."

Protoman turned and kept walking. "Unbelievable... if Bass is working for World Three..."

"Did I miss something?" Megaman inquired, walking after Protoman. "Who exactly is Bass, anyway?"

Protoman began to answer, but stopped himself upon seeing something ahead. The both of them ran forward, as the thing they saw turned into many things; in a large room, a massive number of viruses was converging. Lined up single file, sorted by type, various Mettools, Spikeys, Bunnys, and all other sorts marched foward, mindlessly, further into the building. The two Navis stared at the obscure procession; not a single Navi paid them any heed, all of them mysteriously drawn to whatever lay ahead.

"What the...?" Megaman kneeled down next to a line of Mettools, poking at them; they continued on, paying him no heed. "Why are they all coming together like this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Protoman responded, as Megaman stood up; Protoman pointed his sword down the hallway. "They're being collected. Take a listen down there."

Megaman turned his ear toward the hallway, and was able to make out a high-pitched frequency of some sort.

"So they're signaling for viruses to come to them?"

"They must be." Protoman started following the viruses. "And we've got an inkling as to why, too."

Megaman followed after Protoman once again. "Why, do you think?"

Protoman started walking a little faster amidst the viruses, as he could make out a light at the nearby end of the tunnel. "Some sort of project they're working on. We're not sure exactly what it is, but it's intended to cause havoc and destruction by Gospel's word."

"Maybe the name is some sort of indication," Megaman offered, as the end of the hall got closer and closer. Protoman shook his head.

"They seem to have thought of that. The only codename they've given it is... Gospel..."

Protoman started, upon seeing something in the lit room, and ran forward; Megaman ran after him, entering the room and staring up, agape, at what lay before them.

A massive, black, dog-shaped virus, four times as tall as a standard Navi, stood in the center of the room, its eyes closed; its skin was rough and jagged, and around its neck was a giant, spiked mane. Around it, all sorts of machines whirred and clicked and moved, monitoring it and inserting odd, black shapes into the dog's body.

"So... this must be Gospel, huh...?" Megaman stared up in wonderment.

"So this is what they wanted all those viruses for... they're turning them into Bug Fragments and using them to create this thing." Protoman motioned toward his right, and Megaman looked over to see the lines of viruses converge; they were all entering a large machine, which was processing them and spitting Bug Fragments out in their stead.

Megaman grimaced. "That's almost sick... it's like wholesale slaughter."

"Better here than on the Net... but we're going to have to stop this before Gospel activates this beast." Protoman braced himself for attack, before a loud sound made them both turn around; the door had been slammed shut.

"You're too late to stop it, fools!" Both Navis looked up, to see a large, spherical Navi colored like the Earth residing on a nearby platform; around it orbited two smaller spheres, as a smallish head addressed them both. "There's nothing you can do about Gospel now! It's almost complete!"

"Planetman..." Protoman gritted his teeth, glaring up at the Navi. "We meet again... so you're the one in charge of this project after all."

Planetman laughed. "Too little too late, Protoman... you probably would have found us much sooner, had we not set off that emergency bomb in Den City."

Megaman's eyebrows raised, as Protoman stepped forward and Planetman continued. "But now it's too late... Gospel is almost complete, and even now it's more than powerful enough to destroy the two of you!" He raised his hand and slammed it on a nearby control panel. "Allow me to give you a demonstration!"

Numerous other machines started whirring, as four large metal spheres attached to poles moved forward, next to Gospel. They glowed a bright blue, before large conduits of electricity erupted forth and shooting into Gospel; blue electricity started shooting all over his body, faster and faster. After a few seconds, the dog's eyes opened.

* * *

Letting out a massive roar, Gospel started kicking its powerful legs; with each kick, it shattered a massive chain that was tethering it to the floor. Soon, the beast was completely free, and it looked down on Megaman and Protoman with hunger in its eyes, snarling.

"Hahaha! That's the way, Gospel!" Planetman shouted from his perch, causing Gospel to look up at him. "Destroy the two interlopers! Show them what happens when you try-"

With a swing of its paw, Gospel knocked Planetman away, and onto the ground far below. Before he could get up, the paw came back down, claws extended, and smashed into Planetman, shattering his torso. A few seconds later, Planetman dissolved into deletion.

"Dammit, this thing is strong." Protoman extended his arm, upon which a Sword appeared. "And there's no form of control inside that thing; it's no better than a common virus. We've got to stop it from escaping onto the Net."

Megaman looked up at it, as it roared in triumph, having defeated Planetman. "You're going to use the Life Sword?"

Protoman nodded. "It'll take a while to charge up the blade enough to defeat this thing... I'm going to need you to distract it for about fifteen seconds."

Megaman nodded. "Lan! I hope you have your Area Steal chips ready!"

"I've got four of them here!" Lan called back. "Ready when you are!"

"Let's move!" Megaman called out, vanishing into thin air, only to reappear behind Gospel, far from Protoman. He aimed his buster.

"Hey, you! Come and get me, you stupid mutt!" He fired at Gospel's head; with a roar, Gospel shook his head and turned around to face Megaman. Growling, the beast charged the hanging platform Megaman was standing on, ramming into it with his head; Megaman jumped off and landed on Gospel's back, taking out a sword and stabbing.

With a howl of pain, Gospel reared back on his hind legs, while quickly turning around to swipe at the pest on its back; Megaman, with another Area Steal, disappeared and landed on the virus machine, taunting the beast again.

Back down below, Protoman had nearly gathered the energy he needed; he smirked as Megaman bounced around the room, nearly impossible to catch as Gospel howled with rage and frustration. "He certainly can be annoying when he needs to be..."

"Protoman! We're ready!" Chaud called out. Protoman nodded and swung with all his might.

"Haah!" The Life Sword quickly traveled toward the beast, who barely had time to look over before it had one of its front legs completely severed, as well as a portion of its mane. It sank to the floor, roaring in pain, as Megaman cheered.

"Yes! We got him! Just need a couple more of those and he'll be down and out!"

"Megaman! It's your turn!" Chaud called out. "Protoman needs to recharge for a minute!"

Megaman nodded, holding out his arm as Lan fed him the first Battlechip. "Sword!"

As a sword appeared on Megaman's arm, he ran around to Gospel's front, hoping to target the head and take it out. At the same time, Gospel reared up on his hind legs, letting out a large howl; an instant later, another leg shot out of its torso, replacing the one he had just lost.

"Gah! What?!" Megaman stopped dead in his tracks, as Gospel just as easily replaced the missing portions of its mane. Growling, it turned its sights toward Protoman, who was standing near the sealed entrance to the room. It raised one paw, ready to strike.

"Protoman!" Megaman hopped off the balcony and dashed forward, shoving Protoman out of the way; Gospel's paw knocked Megaman back toward one of the side walls, as its claws tore through the door. The wall crumbled upon this impact, creating a much larger exit to the Net.

Megaman sat up, rubbing his head, as Gospel's brain came to the realization of escape. Running at incredible speed, it squeezed its way through the door it had just made, headed toward the Net.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Protoman demanded, standing up. "You had the perfect opportunity to attack, why didn't you take it?!"

"What... I was..." Megaman stammered, standing up.

"Gah! Useless idiot!" Protoman turned toward the exit that Gospel had just left through. "Now that beast is free to roam the Net on a rampage!"

As Megaman ran up to Protoman, Protoman turned and punched Megaman hard in the gut, knocking him back, as Chaud spoke. "Absolutely pathetic. I should have known better than to rely on the two of you."

"Hey!" Lan shot back, defensively. "We were just trying to save your Navi!"

"And that's why you're useless. You can't take decisive action properly, and now all of Den City is at risk because of that monster!"

Megaman stood up, holding his stomach, as Chaud sighed. "Go home, both of you! Just stay the hell out of my way!" Chaud's voice vanished, as Protoman was jacked out, disappearing in a beam of light.

Megaman ran toward the massive hole in the wall, looking toward where Gospel had just ran. "Dammit... I think we just made a big mistake, Lan..."

Lan sighed. "Maybe... I'm jacking you out." In a beam of light, Megaman disappeared from the wrecked room, as numerous viruses now stood and looked at each other, confused.

Back in his PET, Megaman looked up toward Lan. "What are we going to do now? We can't just let Gospel roam free, can we?"

Lan shook his head. "No we can't... but I'm not sure there's anything the two of us can do." He put his PET into its holster, pulling out his skates and dashing out of the alley.

"So what are we going to do?"

"We're going to go get someone who knows what he's doing," Lan responded. "Let's go visit my dad."

Lan quickly skated down the sidewalk, speeding through the intersection where the two busses had hit each other; as several police officers and ambulance workers watched him go, Lan continued right on, speeding through Den City and toward SciLabs.


	11. Chapter 11: Backup Plans

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 1: New Origins_

* * *

Chapter 11: Backup Plans

Deep in a computer system somewhere, a Navi walked through a quiet, unused hallway, surrounded by various kinds of gadgetry; his cloak followed lightly behind him as he moved, looking around occasionally for traces of security.

"One last piece to our puzzle," Bass mused to himself. "If the old man's figurings are correct, that is. Then, finally, the assault on the humans can begin."

He rustled through an older machine, suspecting hidden treasures, before moving on. "To think there was a creature on the Net more powerful than myself... but with the way it took over the test Cyberworld, it could prove rather dangerous indeed. Perhaps I should acquire a piece of it for my own purposes..."

He looked to his left and his eyebrows raised; could this be what he was searching for? After heading over and inspecting it, he was pleased to see that it was.

"A force field generator." He reached down and picked it up off the ground; an instant later, several automated Navis appeared behind him, lasers drawn, as a siren sounded.

"SECU-" was all they managed to get out; a quick blast of energy from Bass's hand silenced them instantly. The security alert ended, and Bass turned his attention back to the generator.

He put his hand on top of the device. "This could be particularly useful to me..."

Focusing, his hand started to glow. "Get Ability!"

The generator glowed the same color as Bass's hand, before both dimmed back to darkness. Holding up his hand, Bass tried out his new power, forming a small but powerful barrier around his hand. He closed his fingers into a fist, grinning as the barrier vanished.

"Brilliant." He turned to leave, holding the generator in his arm. "Let's see anyone try to double-cross me now."

* * *

"Did you hear some sort of alarm?" Megaman wondered, as Lan ran through SciLab, headed for his father's office.

"I thought the same thing, but it only lasted for a second," Lan replied. "Must've been something else." He ran into an open elevator and jammed the button until the door closed, slumping against the wall.

"What is your dad going to do, you think?"

"Not sure," Lan said, catching his breath. "He'll probably send out some Officials to intercept it, something like that... all I know is, he can do more than either of us could." In addition to doing his Net research, Dr. Hikari was in charge of organizing and deploying Official Netbattlers in emergency situations, having served in the Electopian Armed Forces in his youth and being an experienced Netbattler himself.

The doors opened again, and Lan dashed out, headed for his father's office. Upon entering, he found Yuichiro walking toward the door, ending a discussion with none other than Chaud. All three stopped, a but surprised, before Chaud continued forward, brushing past Lan without a word and heading down the hallway. Lan turned to watch him go.

"I thought I'd be seeing you before too long," his father spoke; Lan turned to see him with his arms folded, not looking entirely pleased.

Lan rubbed the back of his head. "Er... I guess Chaud told you what happened, huh?"

"That he did," Yuichiro replied, walking back into his office. "I thought I told you not to go looking for trouble with Megaman."

Lan sighed, rubbing his forehead and following. "Dad..."

"Son, I know how you must be feeling after what happened, but you're still just putting yourself and Megaman in danger. Chaud's right; these are problems you should leave to the Officials."

Lan let his shoulders fall, resigned. "Alright..."

"I'll think of a suitable punishment later." Yuichiro walked over to a large screen, pressing a button and causing a display to come up. "For now, we need to stop Gospel before it destroys all of Den Net City." Lan walked over to the screen, and it appeared to be showing a layout of Den Net City; a large number of dots covered its surface.

"What are those? Navis?"

"Viruses," Yuichiro corrected. "Den's covered with them these days. But we're just looking for one..."

Lan scanned the street, trying to find anything familiar or outstanding. Before long, he noticed a large clump of viruses traveling as one down one of the main pathways. "Look at that," he said, pointing it out.

Yuichiro nodded, pushing his glasses up. "That's got to be what we're looking for; Gospel's constructed from a large amount of Bug Fragments, that's how they must be detected."

"So what are we going to do to it?"

"I've got some Officials on it now," his father responded. "They're going to lure Gospel here, and we'll encase it in a barrier that it won't be able to escape. Then we'll use another device to overload that portion of the Net, incapacitating it so we can destroy it."

As he finished speaking, four more dots appeared on the screen, each one taking the form of the Official Netbattler symbol. They converged quickly on Gospel's location.

"Ah, here we go." Yuichiro smiled. "They've managed to track his location as well. Now the show will begin."

* * *

Bass flew through the air over Den Net City, scanning the streets to make sure he wasn't being detected as he delivered the force field generator to World Three. He mused over backup plans to himself, never one to trust anybody, when a sight made him stop dead and do a double take.

"What on Earth...?" He flew forward to get a better look. A gigantic, dog-like virus was sauntering through the Cyberworld, roaring and swiping at something that was causing bright flashes of light. Looking closer, he could see a number of Official Navis surrounding the beast, one of them firing laser blasts at it from the front. Eventually, the dog virus roared mightily and started running, as all four Navis chased after it, or were chased, depending on their position.

Bass shook his head. "No concern of mine." He sped off again, as the Navis led the virus toward the place from which Bass had come.

* * *

"They're almost here," Yuichiro reported, as he and Lan watched the display; the Official Navis had very nearly gotten Gospel to the target area. Lan watched patiently, wanting to see the plan in action. A few seconds later, the large virus clump had wandered over a large red X displayed near the SciLabs cyber building.

"Perfect." Yuichiro reached down, flipping a couple of switches, cueing some humming sounds from all around. "They just need to keep it stalled for a few seconds longer..."

Lan looked at another nearby monitor, which was showing the Cyberworld immediately outside. The four Navis had surrounded Gospel and were frustrating it indeed; they took turns firing Cannons directly at Gospel from various angles, and Gospel was turning around in circles miserably, unsure of who to attack first.

"I think they've got it, Dad!" Lan reported. Yuichiro nodded, putting his finger over a different button.

"Now! Activate force field!"

As Dr. Hikari pressed the button, Lan looked at his monitor again. Expecting to see a circular barrier appear, he was surprised when electric shocks started shooting through Gospel, causing it to howl in pain.

"What's going on?" inquired a curious Lan. "Why is it getting electrocuted?"

"Wait, what?!" Yuichiro ran over to see what Lan was seeing, just as the electric shocks came to a close. Yuichiro slammed his fist on the panel, causing Lan to jump. "Damn it! What happened?! Why isn't the force field working?!"

The other Navis also came to the quick realization that something was wrong. Gospel quickly turned around toward the Navis behind him, presuming a sneak attack had occurred, and opened his mouth. A massive, powerful laser beam shot forth, consuming both Navis and tearing through the structure of the Cyberworld. Closing its mouth, it began to turn again, as the two other Navis prepared to defend themselves; instead of attacking, Gospel let out a massive roar and took off, running away from SciLab.

"Damn... this isn't good." Yuichiro quickly turned and headed for another part of the room.

"What do we do now?" Lan asked, as his dad started flipping several more switches, concentrating hard.

"We have to stop Gospel before it escapes Den Net City." Frustrated with the switches, he reached over to a nearby shelf and grabbed what seemed to be a manual of sorts. "So I need to remember how to use this..."

Lan leaned in, trying to see what it was his dad was looking at, but the page was utterly incomprehensible to him; he leaned back out. "What are we going to do to it?"

"We'll never be able to corner it again, not after what happened to it; it may be a virus, but it's not completely stupid." Yuichiro set the book down, open to a certain page, and started flipping switches again. "So we're going to have to overload all of Den Net City in order to stop it."

"Say what?" Lan replied, a little panicked at the severe-sounding plan.

"It's like a viral EMP of sorts," his father exclaimed, as a panel opened up, revealing a large, sinister-looking switch. "It activates a beacon that sends a high-energy frequency wave through the real world, affecting all electronic devices it encounters. They'll all light up with energy, incapacitating any Navis, and viruses, residing in their Cyberworlds."

Lan looked over at a window, looking at Den City and imagining everything glowing a bright white, giving off radiation. "That sounds... dangerous..."

"It is a little dangerous," Yuichiro admitted. "The energy wave can be a little unstable at its core, but as long as there's no major interference, there shouldn't be any lasting damage. What's more dangerous is letting Gospel escape onto the greater Net. Is Megaman jacked into anything?"

Lan pulled out his PET and looked at Megaman. "No, he's right here."

"Good." Yuichiro put his hand on the switch, ready to pull. "Then brace yourselves."

* * *

"I see you've returned."

Bass nodded, acknowledging Wily's presence, as he entered the World Three Cyberworld, quickly heading toward the core control room. "I've got what you requested; it was like taking candy from a baby." Walking into the large, circular room, he flew upward and placed the small generator into a small hole in the ceiling; the system quickly acknowledged its presence, humming and beeping.

"Excellent." Wily grinned evilly. "A device capable of sending energy over a huge distance at a high speed... exactly what we need to enact the final part of our plan."

Bass landed on the floor again, looking up at a screen where Dr. Wily's face resided. "I take it my services are complete, then."

"Not quite," Wily corrected. "There is one last thing I need you to do for me."

Bass sighed in annoyance. "And what exactly would that be?"

Grinning a malicious grin, Wily pressed a button on a control panel in front of him. An instant later, four large metal arms sprang up from either side of Bass; each one grabbed one of his appendages, holding him in place.

"Hold still," Wily ordered, as Bass bared his teeth in anger. Slamming his fist on another part of the control panel, a massive bolt of electricity shot through the center of the Cyberworld control room, spearing Bass through the center. As he screamed in pain, the bolt began to drain him of his energy, as a series of computer systems hummed to life, powered by Bass's massive amounts of energy.

Wily laughed maniacally, looking all around as his work sprang into action for the first and last time; lights flashed, machines turned on, and sirens blared.

"Finally, my work is nearly complete!" He cackled, as he turned on another screen, wanting to watch the drama unfold. "Soon, the world will be just as I envisioned it... all thanks to my greatest creation!"

* * *

Lan and Yuichiro both turned their attention back to the screen, having activated the energy wave. As the blue circle expanded, a number of cyber buildings glowed white on the digital map.

"It's working." Yuichiro breathed a sigh of relief. "The Net is overloading with energy... Gospel should become incapacitated pretty quickly at this rate. He can't have gotten away that fast..."

A massive sound rattled the air, like an explosion or a thunderclap, and a strange quaking shook the ground, knocking Lan and Yuichiro over.

"Lan! What's going on out there?" Megaman called out. Lan sat up, rubbing his head, as he looked up at the map. At the edge of it, a number of buildings that were white had turned a rather alarming red, and their number was increasing quickly, in an expanding circle.

Yuichiro looked up at the map, getting to his feet, and cursed loudly. "What's going on? Something's seriously wrong here..." He ran to the panel despite the still-shaking ground, as Lan stood up and looked out the window. At the very edge of his vision, he could see buildings starting to glow a bright white.

"Dad..." he started, before he was suddenly attacked by a powerful wind; he braced himself against it, as Yuichiro did the same. "Gah! What the hell is going on?!"

"Something's gone wrong! There must be interference from something else... this could end in disaster!" Looking up at the map, he could see the circle of red buildings expanding, as the white buildings outside grew in number, getting closer and closer to SciLab.

"Whatever this is, it's about to hit right here." Yuichiro grabbed on to the control panel. "Hold on tight!" Lan tried to move forward and grab something, but he was suddenly hit by a powerful invisible force, which threw him back against the wall and knocked him out.

* * *

"Unh..." Lan woke up a minute later and blinked, his vision blurry and his head aching. Thinking this was a fairly familiar sensation, he rubbed his eyes, trying to get things more clear. He could make out the form of his father, who had also fallen over, in front of him.

"Man... are you alright?"

"I... I think so..." Lan blinked; that wasn't the voice he had expected. He rubbed his eyes, to clear up what he saw; when he finally saw it properly, he nearly jumped in shock, backing up against the wall.

"Megaman?! What are you doing here?! Isn't this the real world?"

"Gah! Lan?!" Megaman backed up a bit as well, as if he'd seen a ghost. "What's going on?! I thought this was still the Cyberworld!"

"Wrong," proclaimed another voice that made them both jump. Looking up, they saw Yuichiro standing at the window, nearly white as a ghost and clearly in shock as well. "Have a look for yourselves."

Looking at each other in massive confusion, the two stood up and slowly walked over to the large window, each on either side of Lan's father. For as far as they could see, the city had been thrown into turmoil; humans were running out into the streets, or back into their houses, as numerous Navis and programs populated the streets. The buildings and streets were a splotched mix of normal brick or concrete and the gridded, glowing texture of the Cyberworld. Even the air seemed to have a strange glow about it, in addition to being filled with noise and screaming.

"You mean..." Megaman started. Yuichiro nodded.

"Yes," he replied, pushing his glasses up. "I don't know what could have caused this... but it looks like Den City and Den Net City have merged."

The three of them goggled at the sight outside the window, wondering to themselves how they were ever going to fix this mess.


	12. Chapter 12: The Ensuing Havoc

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 1: New Origins_

* * *

Chapter 12: The Ensuing Havoc

"How could this happen..."

Lan, Megaman and Dr. Hikari all looked out the SciLab window at the chaos that had overtaken Den City. Buildings and streets were now a mix of concrete and digital foundation, and confused Navis were running about amidst the humans. Panic was starting to break out.

"You're not sure what did this?" Lan looked up at his father, who shook his head.

"Not exactly, no," he replied. "But it was some other sort of radiation that headed this way, I could tell that much... clearly they don't mesh well."

Megaman pressed his hands against the glass, getting a better look at Den City, seeing it for the first time. "Maybe World Three or Gospel has something to do with this..."

"Oh, no doubt about that." Megaman looked up at Dr. Hikari in surprise. "No normal frequencies could have had this sort of reaction, no chance. Something equally dangerous had to be coming this way, and that could only come from one of those two groups. The question is, which one..."

He turned and headed back to the main compter terminal, pushing a few buttons and watching the screen change repeatedly. "Can't believe this thing still works..."

Lan walked over to his dad, as Megaman kept looking out the window in wonderment. "So what do we do? Try to take them both out?"

"That's an option." Yuichiro finally settled on one screen, showing off a map of Den City with random areas lit various colors, with more writing Lan couldn't understand. "Both of them have it coming anyhow... the question is, how do we find them?"

Lan's eyes lit up. "Wait... what about that web address they got from Bass?"

"Ah, there's a start!" Yuichiro started typing rather quickly. "Chaud told me it earlier, let's see if I got it right..." Hitting the enter key, the screen changed, switching over to a single spot on the map; unlike most of the map, it was completely black, the screen's default.

"This should be it... but it's emitting no frequencies at all. No activity whatsoever."

"Huh?" Lan looked a little closer, in the vain hopes that he'd gain a deeper understanding by doing so. "I thought that Gospel would be doing a lot of operating there or something..."

"Well, it's worth investigating anyway." Yuichiro stood up and stretched his arms. "It'll probably be easier to do so now, since we can check the Net space physically-"

His speech was interrupted by an explosion from a ways off; Lan dashed back to the window, to see smoke rising from another part of downtown. Looking closely, they could see a small group of operators and Navis running down a cross street; Megaman slammed his fist against the glass.

"Dammit! I can't believe we overlooked this! The World Three Navis are in the real world as well!"

"What?!" Lan leaned in for a closer look. "But we can't just leave them loose!"

Megaman nodded, moving away from the window. "I'm going out there! I'm going to take care of them!"

"Wait!" Yuichiro called out, turning toward Megaman, but it was too late; he had already made his way out the door.

"Wait for me!" Lan called out as well, running after Megamanl Yuichiro started moving toward him.

"Lan! Why the hell are you going too?!" Ignoring him, Lan ran out the door and down the stairs after Megaman, faster than Yuichiro was moving.

"Ah, goddammit, they're both gone." He stopped running, rubbing his forehead with his fingers. "Charging headfirst into battle... they should have been girls, both of them."

* * *

After ten minutes of running, Megaman and Lan had reached the source of the explosion. As they ran, the real world and the Cyberworld had merged more; instead of highly distinct sections of dark concrete and bright Cyberworld, everything was slowly congealing into a bright but bland orange. The streets had become significantly more crowded; everyone, for some reason, felt the urge to leave their houses, possibly under a guise that outdoors, where there were fewer dangerous electronics, was safer.

Megaman stopped running and looked up at a somewhat tall office building, the side of which was smoking. Many around the two of them were shrieking; Megaman quickly looked around.

"Shoot... I think we missed them..." Megaman looked upward at some of the building tops, to be greeted with a rather familiar sight.

"Agh!" Megaman was knocked backward by a giant, spotted ball, falling onto his back, though getting up quickly.

"Megaman!" Lan looked up toward the rooftop, to see Iroaya Madd standing next to Colorman, whose ball returned to him quickly.

"Ahahahaha! Isn't it fantastic?" Madd called out, as Colorman stuck his tongue out at Megaman. "Chaos everywhere you look! People panicking in the streets! And where disorder reigns, World Three will step in to create order!"

"Create order... what a complete load!" Megaman aimed his buster at Colorman. "This is probably all your fault in the first place!"

Iroaya smirked. "Details, details... before long, you'll see the true genius of Lord Wily's work!"

"We'll just see!" Megaman fired his buster toward the distant Colorman, who dodged his shots with ease. As Megaman fired, Lan noticed something approaching from the corner of his eye; looking over, he saw a medium-sized black helicopter approaching quickly, the SciLab logo emblazoned on the side. As it approached and started kicking up plumes of air, everyone started to look toward it, including Madd and Colorman.

"Oh, darn." Madd snapped her fingers. "Looks like our funtime is going to be cut short." Hopping onto Colorman's back, she looked down toward the ground and grinned widely. "Looks like the real fun is about to begin, anyhow!" As Madd laughed, Colorman started bouncing off across the rooftops at a rapid pace, quickly out of sight.

The helicopter started to descend, and Lan and Megaman watched as Lan's father leaned out of the open side door, a megaphone in his hand.

"Lan! Megaman! You have to get in here right away!" he yelled out, the megaphone to his mouth. Before either Lan or Megaman could ask why, they heard a shriek from behind them. Turning around, they saw a young twenty-something girl screaming and reaching her hand up; the lower half of her body had, inexplicably, found itself in the ground. As she tried to claw her way out, the orange ground continued sucking her in, until even her fingers had been pulled underneath.

Mass panic ensued, as everyone started screaming and running indoors; several more people found themselves stuck in the orange mass that had become the street, slowly becoming buried.

"Come on!" Yuichiro yelled again. Megaman and Lan looked at each other and nodded, running for the chopper. Megaman got there first, and started to climb in when he heard a shout from behind; turning around, he saw Lan struggling to move, one leg buried in the ground up to his knee.

"Megaman! Help!"

"Lan!" Megaman wasted no time in sprinting over toward Lan, whose other leg began sinking into the orange mass as well. Reaching out, Megaman grabbed Lan's hand to try and pull him out; both of them glowed a bright white, and an instant later, Megaman found himself flung back, landing on his seat. Looking around, Lan was nowhere to be found.

"Lan? Lan!" Megaman called out, standing up. "Where are you?"

_I'm not sure..._ Megaman jumped, hearing a voice from inside his head.

"Lan! What the heck?! Are you in my head? What happened?!" Before Lan's voice could respond, Megaman felt a tug down near his foot; looking down, he saw himself also about to be eaten up. Getting out his buster, he fired down toward his foot; the ground recoiled and let his foot go. Not thinking twice, Megaman turned around and leapt into his father's helicopter, which quickly took off, as Megaman and Yuichiro watched the inhabitants of Den City get swallowed by the mysterious substance.

* * *

"Are you alright?" Yuichiro asked, as the helicopter turned around and sped off.

"I think so..." Megaman rubbed his head, sitting down in a seat. "But Lan... he... I'm not sure..."

"All I saw was you grab his hand, then there was a bright light and Lan was gone..."

Megaman nodded. "But now his voice is in my head... or at least it was, it hasn't said anything in a minute..."

_No, I'm still here_, Lan answered; Megaman nodded in response.

Yuichiro pushed his glasses up. "I think I get it... your body must have merged with Lan's, somehow."

Megaman blinked. "What, really?"

"Given your construction, it's not all that surprising, especially now. All sorts of real world items are merging with their Cyberworld counterparts, and you and Lan are extremely similar, as you know..."

Megaman nodded again. "So, how are we going to unmerge?"

"I wouldn't recommend it," Yuichiro responded. "Lan, as he is, is practically defenseless, especially with people getting absorbed left and right by who knows what. It's best he stays in there for now; you're much better equipped to defend yourself."

_I'm not that weak..._ Megaman heard Lan respond.

_Don't worry about it, Lan, you know what he meant,_ Megaman responded silently, looking forward toward the windshield. "Where are we going? Back to SciLab?"

"Of course." Yuichiro looked forward as well, trying to see their destination. "It's the safest place we can be right now, unless we decide to go to a military base instead. Plus, we can try and research whatever it is that's taken over the town."

"Did we get any clues from that Gospel base?"

Yuichiro shook his head. "No, not a thing. Just as I had feared, the area had been completely abandoned."

Megaman's eyes widened. "The entire base, deserted? Turned off?"

"Well, that's the thing." Yuichiro leaned back a little in his seat. "There was almost nothing there, to be honest. There was a large room, like what Chaud described, where they were constructing Gospel, but aside from that, nothing. There was no evidence that anything else ever went on there."

Megaman looked forward. "Looks like Gospel played it smart. Their base must be somewhere else entirely..."

"Must be..." Yuichiro sat forward, pushing his glasses up again. "The whole thing seems rather fishy, though, the way Gospel's operating. I can't quite put my finger on it..."

With a large WHAM, something heavily impacted the side of the helicopter, causing it to shake and veer a bit off course.

"What the-?!" Megaman quickly stood, moving carefully to the open side door of the helicopter and looking toward the source of the sound, to find a familiar Navi clinging to the helicopter, its arm wrapped around the tail.

"Fireman!" Megaman exclaimed; an instant later, Fireman flung himself around toward the door and landed inside, causing Dr. Hikari to jump and back away toward a corner. Megaman got himself into a defensive stance, as Fireman chuckled.

"Sorry to cut this flight short, but I can't have any of you messing with Lord Wily's plans." He looked directly into Megaman's eyes. "Especially you, you meddlesome Navi. Your interference will end now!"

Fireman charged forward, slamming his shoulder into Megaman's chest and knocking both of them out of the helicopter, onto a nearby building top.

Groaning, Megaman shifted and kicked Fireman off of him, as he watched the helicopter continue on. Quickly getting to his feet, Megaman started running across the rooftops, blasting backward at Fireman while chasing the helicopter.

"You're not going anywhere!" Fireman started running after Megaman, shooting some fire blasts of his own; Megaman managed to barely dodge while keeping up his pace, and looking forward, he saw the helicopter slow down and come in closer. With a look backward, Megaman saw a fire blast come directly toward his face.

"Gah!" Acting on instinct, Megaman swung at it; his arm suddenly became a Wide Sword, and the shot was deflected back toward Fireman, who barely dodged. Megaman looked down at the sword in surprise.

"Weird... looks like I've got Lan's Battlechips." Looking up, he saw the helicopter slow down and pull up right next to Megaman; Megaman leaped in, rolling and landing safely inside. Quickly turning around, he saw Fireman right behind, ready to jump in; he pulled out his arm, which became a High Cannon, and fired it directly into Fireman's face as he jumped. With no room to dodge, Fireman fell backward heavily onto the neighboring rooftop, as the pilot took off, taking the helicopter up and away from Fireman as fast as he could manage.

"Think you can escape, can you?" Fireman aimed his gun arm toward the helicopter, charging up. "Let's see how you like this!" He fired a series of rounds toward the retreating helicopter; while most of them soared harmlessly into the sky, one scored a direct hit on the tail propellor of the chopper.

Megaman fell forward as the helicopter shook with the explosion; a series of alarms sounded from the pilot's seat, as a plume of smoke and fire erupted from the tail, and the pilot cursed.

"Damn! He got us!" The helicopter started to decline, as the pilot wrestled with the controls. "We're in for a rough landing! Everybody brace yourselves!" Yuichiro clipped his seatbelt on, while Megaman, unable to stand in the shaky craft, grabbed the pilot's seat in front of him.

Coming down quickly, the craft aimed itself for a nearby building top. Despite the pilot controlling the fall as best he could, the helicopter came down hard upon landing; Megaman slid forward into the back of the pilot's seat, while Yuichiro and the pilot found themselves saved by their seatbelts. The chopper slid forward on the rooftop for a short ways, creating horrible crunching and grinding sounds, before coming to a stop. Megaman sat up, rubbing his sore head and looking toward Dr. Hikari.

"Are you alright?"

Yuichiro nodded, sitting back and breathing heavily. "Yea... I'm fine, don't worry." He unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up, helping Megaman up and walking out of the helicopter, as the pilot called out after them, "Oh, I'm fine, thanks for asking!"

"Where are we right now?" Megaman wondered.

"Close to SciLab, at least... you can see it over... there..." His voice came to a slow stop as his eyes widened; Megaman followed his finger to a sight he could hardly believe.

Immediately outside of SciLab, snarling and angry, stood the impossibly large Gospel, almost two stories tall; staring it down, between Gospel and SciLab, was a gigantic, spheroid, orange blob. On top of it was what appeared to be a metallic helmet, with horns coming out from either side; hovering near its blob-esque body, on each side, was what appeared to be a orange hand, with long, metallic claws extending from it. Buried in the center of the blob was a giant, ghastly, red eyeball. Overlooking the entire scene, from a giant screen generated on the front of the SciLab building, was the face of an elderly, gray-haired man with an evil grin and a monocle.

As Megaman stared at the scene, agape, the giant face looked toward the building they had landed on; upon seeing its contents more clearly, the face laughed.

"Ah, good, the gang's all here," he commented. "Looks like now the show can begin."

Megaman glared at him, his teeth gritted, as the old man cackled.


	13. Chapter 13: Alpha

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 1: New Origins_

* * *

Chapter 13: Alpha

Megaman stared at the massive screen that had formed on the front of the SciLab building, as an elderly fellow looked back, cackling.

"Incredible! The merging of the real world and the Cyberworld... this has gone even better than I imagined! Fantastic!"

Megaman glared at the mysterious face. "Who is that? Is he with the World Three?"

"Wily..." Megaman looked back to find Yuichiro clenching his fist in anger. "So it's been him behind this all this time..."

"You know this guy?"

Yuichiro nodded. "He did research with my father, and was one of a few scientists who created the Net... widely credited as one of the greatest minds of our time. For a time, he held my job in SciLab as lead researcher."

He walked forward a little, to get a better view of what was happening. "But unlike your grandfather, Wily was corrupt... he got intoxicated by power, and eventually tried to use the might of the Net to take over the Electopian government."

Megaman walked forward as well, as Wily's gaze was diverted toward something on another rooftop. "He failed, though, didn't he?"

"Miserably." The two of them watched as Colorman and Fireman ran toward the scene across some rooftops, followed by Madd and a thirty-something, redheaded, bearded man in a purple jacket. "His attack got nowhere, and Officials were dispatched to arrest him, but he had fled the country. That was twenty years ago... we all thought he was dead."

"Looks like he's in pretty good spirits to me..." Megaman looked back toward Wily's face, which had begun to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank you all for coming to this event..." He chuckled at his own wit. "The unveiling of my two greatest projects... the Viral Beast Gospel, and the Parasitic Net Organism, Alpha!"

"What are you talking about?!" Megaman demanded. "You're not responsible for Gospel! That wasn't World Three's doing!"

Wily laughed amusedly. "You fools! Seems you never realized what I was up to, did you?" Megaman stared blankly, along with the others watching, as Wily continued.

"The organization that you know as Gospel doesn't exist! It was merely a ploy to gain some more followers, and some more funds... and, of course, to divide the attention of the Officials while I carried out my master plan."

He gestured toward the two beasts below, as they stared each other down. "Two different superpowered creatures, each a backup plan for the other. If either one were discovered and dismantled, I'd still have another to fall back on. But now both have survived... and now, Alpha will be truly unstoppable!"

Alpha raised its claws, swiping at Gospel, who jumped back and roared at Alpha, as Wily continued. "Even as he is now, Alpha is powerful enough... but once he absorbs Gospel, his strength and powers will expand considerably! He'll be able to use his body to absorb every last shred of civilization on this planet! He will bring everything you know crashing to the ground!"

"What?! What is this?!" Megaman and Dr. Hikari looked over toward Madd, who had run to the edge of the building, looking rather angry. "You lied to me, Uncle! You said we would rule over the entire planet, not destroy it! We would bring a new world order, weed out the corruption in society!"

_Uncle?!_ Lan exclaimed, as Wily chuckled.

"My dear Iroaya, that's exactly what I plan to do. I just find 99% of this planet to be beyond saving. I will choose the worthy few to build a new civilization, one that will bring true peace and order to this planet... with me as its ruler!"

"No! I won't have this!" Madd stood defiantly, facing the screen. "I'm not like you! I won't cater to your insanity and have so many lives on my hands! Senile old man!"

Wily's face fell slightly, changing from amusement to mild condescension, as the redheaded World Three operator watched amusedly. "You would turn on your own family, so far into the process? You attempted to kill innocent people for our cause! There is no turning back for you now, Iroaya! You're a criminal!"

Madd made a rather obscene gesture toward the massive screen. "You're no family of mine anymore! I'm done tarnishing myself for your insane cause, starting now!" She turned around to face her Navi, which sported the same angry look as her. "Colorman! Attack Alpha, now!"

"Got it!" Colorman hopped off the building toward the ground, racing as fast as it could toward the massive orange beast. Before it could get far, however, its path was blocked by another Navi.

"World Three has no place for traitors!" Fireman exclaimed, aiming his flame cannon toward Colorman. "You will not interfere with Lord Wily's plans! By Mr. Match's order, I will destroy you!"

"What?!" Madd turned to her side, to see the bearded operator standing next to her, giving orders to Fireman. "Kenichi, have you lost your mind?! You actually want Wily to go through with this?!"

Match turned angrily toward Madd. "You couldn't possibly understand, fool! You were just lending support to family in need; I, however, believe wholeheartedly in Wily's plans! And when he erases this world, I will be at his side when he rules over the new civilization!"

"You're off your goddamn rocker!" Madd wound up and punched Match sqarely in the jaw, who stumbled backward and fell over; he stood up, rubbing his jaw.

"You traitor... you're even worse than that coward, Zapp, fleeing at the first sign of Alpha's appearance. You will not stand in our way!" Match dashed forward toward Madd, as the two started to brawl. Megaman and Yuichiro looked on in amazement, as Wily snorted from the screen.

"Foolish girl... but it matters not." He turned his attention back downward, toward his two pets. "You cannot possibly stop me now! Alpha! Attack Gospel, and absorb him!"

Alpha lowered its claws, as the two horns on its head started to glow a bright white. After a few moments of charging up, a gargantuan bolt of electricity shot forth, piercing Gospel and racking his entire body. Gospel howled in pain, as Wily laughed.

"Brilliant! Now you see the true power of World Three, fools! Finish him, Alpha!"

As the electric attack continued, Alpha raised its claws, ready to deliver the final blow. Before it could bring its claws down, a bright purple beam shot through the air and attacked Alpha, shattering the claws on one hand, and striking Alpha's left horn, causing it to crack and fall apart. The electric attack ceased, and Gospel shook itself out, roaring.

"What?!" Wily looked for the source of the beam, along with everyone else; a block or so down the street, Bass stood with his finger pointed toward Alpha. He lowered his arm and started flying forward, toward the two beasts.

"Wily, you old fool..." Bass floated upward, to face the screen. "You honestly thought you could betray me and live to tell the tale, didn't you?"

Wily hmphed. "I'm surprised you survived, Bass; such an energy drain could have finished off any Navi."

"Well, I'm not just any Navi, old man. I am the most powerful Cyber being in existence!"

Wily laughed in response. "Perhaps you were, once, but now you are nothing in comparison to Alpha! And with you added to Alpha's composition, he'll be even greater than I could have imagined!"

"Enough." Bass started to lower himself. "This madness ends now. I will utterly destroy Alpha, and once I do, I will track you down and kill you, you old fool!"

Bass lowered himself right next to the angry, roaring Gospel. He put his hand on Gospel's head and closed his eyes, focusing.

_I am not your enemy,_ he communicated silently, through direct contact. _I wish to help you, to destroy the one causing you pain. Will you help me?_

Gospel stopped its snarling, lowering its gaze from the sky and staring down Alpha's giant, central eye. Bass smirked.

"It seems we are in agreement." He stood on Gospel's back and pointed toward Alpha. "Now! Attack the center!"

Gospel roared and charged forward, swiping its claws at Alpha and hacking away at the orange blob that protected its eye. Alpha emitted a high-pitched shrieking noise in response, as two massive machine guns protruded from its sides, ready to fire. Before it got the chance, Bass hurled a purple energy wheel toward them, hacking each one clean off.

"Can't have any of that," he muttered, as he fired two more beams, each one incinerating a machine gun. Back on the rooftop, Megaman and Yuichiro watched, dumbfounded.

"This is crazy," Megaman commented. "World Three's turning on itself... who exactly are we supposed to root for?"

"Well, it's not a great situation either way," Yuichiro replied. "But my guess is that Alpha is the one responsible for keeping these two worlds merged together. If Bass wins, he and Gospel should return to the Cyberworld with everything else, where they'll be much easier to deal with."

"Huh." Megaman watched as Alpha fired an energy beam at Gospel and took out two legs, which regrew quickly. "Well... go Bass, I guess..."

Alpha charged up again, firing another energy beam; this time, Gospel jumped out of the way, landing on a rooftop a few buildings away. Bass, seeing an opening, charged in wielding an energy sword.

"Haah!" Taking a massive swipe at Alpha, he removed a giant, semicircular slice of his body, exposing its red eye to the world and sending the removed parts into the sky. Alpha shrieked in pain, trying to swipe at Bass and missing repeatedly.

"Its weak spot!" He flew upward and landed on Gospel again, pointing down. "Now! Hit it with everything you've got!"

Both Bass and Gospel started charging up energy blasts; before long, both of them were glowing brightly.

"On three!" Bass called out, ready to strike. "One... two..."

Bass and Gospel were both knocked down by a powerful impact from above; their blasts both went off into the street, where they exploded against the orange Alpha residue, doing no damage. Looking up, Bass saw the section of Alpha he had removed bearing down on him, spreading about him and Gospel, slowly absorbing them.

"No!" Bass called out, getting out his sword and trying to attack. "I will not go out like this!"

He swiped repeatedly at the orange mass as it ate at him, to no avail. It was only a matter of seconds before both Bass and Gospel were completely encased by the blob. Megaman and Dr. Hikari watched, horrified, as the blob rolled into the street and sank back into Alpha's body; moments later, Alpha regrew the portions of his main body that he had lost.

Dr. Wily laughed maniacally. "You've done it, Alpha! I knew you were unstoppable! Now our plan can be set into motion!"

Yuichiro cursed. "This is bad. This is very, very bad..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, dialing a number.

"Alpha now has Bass and Gospel... I can't imagine how strong it is now." Megaman turned around to face Dr. Hikari. "What do we do now?"

"There's only one thing left to do," Yuichiro responded. "We call in the Electopian Air Force, to commence an air strike."

"What? But that'll destroy SciLab!"

"We have no choice." Yuichiro put the phone to his ear. "If we don't destroy Alpha immediately, Den City is doomed, along with the rest of Electopia."

As Yuichiro waited for the other party to pick up, the building they were standing on suddenly started shaking, knocking both of them off balance; Dr. Hikari's phone flew out of his hand and onto the ground below.

"What's going on?!" Megaman looked around, and his eyes widened in horror. All around Den City, buildings were shaking and slowly sinking downward into the ground. Alpha was absorbing the entire city into its being.

"It has begun!" Wily cackled from the screen, as SciLab slowly receded into Alpha with the rest of Den City. "There's nothing that can stop me now!"

Megaman fought to keep his balance, as he looked across the way and saw Madd and Match toppling over the edge of the building they were fighting on, disappearing into the ground, which was rapidly rising up to meet Megaman. The building they were on would be absorbed in a matter of seconds.

He heard a yelp from behind him, and he saw Lan's father had rolled to the edge of the building, and was about to fall off.

"Dad!" Megaman ran over to grab Dr. Hikari, but to no avail; Yuichiro fell off the edge onto the ground a few feet below, where Alpha's orange residue overtook him and pulled him under.

"No...!" Megaman cursed and looked around in horror. The shaking had finally stopped; there was not a building or a soul in sight. As far as the eye could see, the world was nothing but Alpha's expansive body.

"No... Dad... Roll... everyone..." Megaman fell to his knees, feeling defeated.

_They're all gone,_ Lan added from within Megaman. _Everything... we couldn't save them..._

Megaman looked down, his hands clenched into fists, a feeling of despair and hopelessness overtaking him. As he kneeled, he could feel Alpha's organism starting to cover his knees, pulling him under. The goo started crawling up and over his body, covering his arms, his torso, and finally his head, making Megaman nothing but a receding orange lump in the ground.

Alpha watched as his body took the last of the things around him. Knowing only orders from his master, Dr. Wily, it started to expand itself beyond Den City, beginning to overtake the rest of Electopia.

With a flash of light, Megaman's lump exploded; a massive energy, the same color and strength of a Life Sword, flung Alpha's body all around. In the center, Megaman stood defiantly, his hopelessness turned to extreme anger as he stared Alpha down. In his hand was a Life Sword; responding to Lan and Megaman's synchronicity, it had taken a true physical form, glowing a bright blue as Megaman grasped the hilt.

"You monster!" he cried out, his body surging with strength he didn't know he had. "You think you can take everything I know, everything I care about, and destroy it like you have?!"

Megaman got into an offensive stance, ready to strike. "I've had enough of this! I'm going to stop your rampage here and now, if it's the last thing I do!"

Alpha raised its claws and prepared to strike, as Megaman dashed forward, ready to end this madness once and for all.


	14. Chapter 14: Megaman vs Alpha

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 1: New Origins_

* * *

Chapter 14: Megaman vs. Alpha

Megaman dashed forward, holding the Life Sword in his hand, full of rage and prepared to strike. Towering two stories over him, Alpha extended its claws and slashed at Megaman, who jumped quickly out of their way.

"Haah!" Megaman sliced vertically at Alpha's body with the Life Sword. A huge energy wave erupted from it and swam forward through Alpha, but it slowed to a stop, dissipating inches before Alpha's eye. One second later, the orange blob filled itself back in, returning Alpha to its spherical shape. Megaman, undeterred, moved forward to attack again.

"So he can regenerate himself..." he pondered to himself. "Let's see how good he is at it."

_You don't have any kind of plan, do you, Megaman?_ Lan wondered; Megaman smirked.

"Not in the least. I'm just thinking on my feet here."

_Well, let's hope we figure something out,_ Lan responded, as Megaman took off. As he moved again toward Alpha's core, he stopped short as Alpha slammed a claw down in front of him. Looking up, he saw Alpha's other claw coming down, ready to crush him; he dived forward, avoiding it, and firing his buster at Alpha's body. Expecting no effect, he was surprised to see a tiny dent, about the size of a baseball, which grew minimally with each additional buster shot.

"Huh?" He stopped himself for a minute, as the dent filled itself in one second later. "Repeated attacks..."

He had no time to finish his thought, as an enormous claw slammed into him from the side, knocking him some thirty yards away from the encounter. Landing on his face, he quickly sat up, rubbing his cheek.

"Gah... ow... I need to be more careful." He hopped up, turning around to see Alpha shifting toward him. Twirling the Life Sword in his hand, he ran forward, on the offensive again, as Alpha's horns began to glow white. Seconds later, a massive bolt of electricity shot forth toward Megaman, who promptly vanished with an Area Steal, appearing some yards forward. As a Cannon formed on his hand, he aimed at Alpha's body and shot off two quick blasts, finishing with a swing of his sword. The energy wave cut deeper, aided by the cannon fire, managed to pierce Alpha's body completely, leaving a clear path to its now exposed central eye.

"Now's our chance!" Megaman raised his Life Sword, ready to deliver the final blow, and swung downward. As the energy wave approached its goal, one of Alpha's claws dived in front of it, blocking the blow and getting itself severed in half.

"Darn it!" Megaman clenched his fist as Alpha's claw fixed itself; both hovered over Megaman, ready to strike. "Those claws... I'll never damage Alpha if those things are still around."

_I think I've got an idea..._

Megaman nodded, hearing it in an instant. He was breathing heavily; the sustained use of the Life Sword was starting to drain him, and he was praying Alpha wasn't smart enough to notice. The two claws hovered over him, getting ready for another blow. Both moved in on him, ready to slam him into the ground. As they approached, Megaman quickly dived to the side, barely avoiding the both of them. Flipping up quickly, he outstretched his hand toward the two appendages.

"Lance!" Instantly, four bamboo lances shot diagonally out of the ground, spearing the claws and locking them into place. Megaman grinned as they tried to move, to no avail, and he turned his attention toward the main body, Minibombs appearing in his hand.

"I won't miss this time!" He started hurling grenade after grenade at Alpha's eye; Alpha shrieked in response, still trying to move its claws, to no avail. Its horns glowed white as Megaman hurled athird Minibomb, the hole in Alpha's body becoming larger; as Alpha fired its electric attack, Megaman used his final Area Steal to dodge, reappearing in the air. With no more Minibombs to throw, Megaman formed a Mega Cannon on the end of his arm, firing it into the large crater as he came down. When the smoke cleared, Alpha's eye was clearly visible and exposed.

"Now!" Seeing his chance, Megaman raised his Life Sword, ready to deal a punishing blow.

_WHAM!_ Megaman felt himself being crushed on either side from the waist down. Looking to either side, he saw that Alpha's claws had finally freed themselves, and had elected to trap Megaman in their grasp.

"No! I was so close!" Megaman wriggled, trying to get free, but felt himself only fall down deeper; he could feel himself getting absorbed by Alpha. Looking back up, he saw Alpha's body beginning to reform around its eye.

"Grr... no way! You're not getting away with this!" With all his might, Megaman took the Life Sword still in his hand and hurled it forward. As it flew toward Alpha point first, an aura of energy began to gather around it, becoming a superpowered arrow. It easily pierced what little orange goo surrounded the eye, striking Alpha's weak point with incredible force.

Alpha let out a massive shriek, as bright light erupted from the fissure in its eye. Megaman felt Alpha's claws fall away, and he dropped to the ground as Alpha's body began to deteriorate; its horns and claws began to explode, and all the goo surrounding its main body started melting away, into the ground.

_Did... we do it?_ Lan pondered, as Alpha began to rapidly disappear. Letting out one last shriek, the last of it melted away, disappearing into the sea of orange goo below their feet. In its place stood, oddly, a door, which appeared to lead underground.

"I'm... not sure..." Megaman stepped forward cautiously, inspecting the door. "There's just... a door."

_I wonder where it leads..._

"Me too." Megaman walked forward toward the door, picking up the Life Sword that was left on the ground. "Let's be careful, though." He stepped forward, and the door whirred open, allowing Megaman inside.

* * *

Inside, Megaman found himself in what appeared to be a control room. Various screens lined the walls, as keyboards and other control units whirred and clicked all around; right in front of them lay another door, closed tight.

"What the... weird..." Megaman went up to one of the control panels, looking at the various screens. About half of them were off; another portion were showing the vast expanse that was once Den City, and the rest were showing a series of mysterious rooms. Looking closer, Megaman saw a portrait of Wily hanging on one of the walls.

_Him again... that must be World Three headquarters, huh?_

Megaman nodded. "Guess so... they must be controlling Alpha remotely like this." He looked down at the keyboard. "Maybe we could use this information to find their headquarters, but I don't have any idea how to work anything in here."

He looked down and started picking out keys at random, pressing them and hoping for some effect. After a minute of hunting and pecking, Megaman jumped as the nearby door suddenly sprang open. A little nervous, Megaman stepped toward it and looked in, his eyes widening.

Inside the door was a set of stairs, leading into a massive, cavernous area. Contained within was all of Den City; buildings, Navis and people were all held within, bound by walls, or arms and legs, by long stretches of orange goo. Tall, ten-story buildings could be seen further back, while the building of SciLab stood prominently close by. Hanging above SciLab, attached to Alpha by arms and legs, were the unconscious bodies of the helicopter pilot, Colorman, Fireman, Iroaya Madd, Kenichi Match, and...

_Dad!_

Megaman ran down the stairs a ways, getting a better view of the limp, unconscious body of Dr. Hikari. He looked unhurt, but lifeless, as if all the energy had been sucked out of him.

"We have to get him out of there!" Megaman instinctively aimed his buster upward, ready to attack Alpha's body.

_Megaman, are you crazy?! You could hit Dad!_

Megaman stopped himself, lowering his buster. "Shoot... you're right..." He looked around. "There has to be some other way. Let's go back to the control room, see if there's anything we can do..."

Megaman turned around, to walk back up the stairs, when something suddenly lashed out at him from the side; looking over, he saw a long orange tentacle strike out and snag him by his left wrist.

"Gah! What?!" Barely managing to hold on to the Life Sword, Megaman formed his other hand into a Buster; before he could get a shot off, another tentacle lashed out, grabbing his entire hand. Megaman felt himself rise into the air, as his feet were snagged as well.

_What's going on?! I thought we defeated Alpha!_ Both watched as the world around them started to hum to life; ahead of them, numerous screens in the control room started turning on, as lights flashed all over. Megaman cried out as an electric shock ran through him briefly; an instant later, he could feel Alpha start to drain his energy.

"Ugh..." His head fell. "No... we didn't. Alpha just played us for saps... he lured us in here..."

_No... there has to be something we can do!_

"Lan... I can't move at all..." Megaman focused himself, as his body started to glow. "There's nothing I can do..."

_Megaman... what are you doing?_

Megaman smiled weakly, as he started to gather the last of his energy. "I've got enough energy for one last trick, Lan. After this... it's up to you..."

_No! You can't..._

"Too late, Lan." Megaman was glowing a bright white, overloading himself. "You'll be able to do it... the good guys always win, right?"

Megaman's body erupted in a massive energy blast; white light shone everywhere, filling the room and blinding everything.

* * *

"Unh..."

Lan blinked, opening his eyes slowly; upon finding himself in control of his own eyes, they shot open, and he sat up, looking down at himself. He was back in his own body, in Alpha's control room. He quickly turned around, looking back into the cavernous area, and saw Megaman's body right up next to his father's.

"Megaman!" He started to run down the stairs, but stopped himself when he saw Alpha's strange tentacles heading toward him. Yelping, he ran back into the control room, slamming his fist on a nearby keyboard; the door slammed shut in response, and he could hear the two tentacles slam into the door.

"Damn... what do I do... I'm trapped in here..." Turning around quickly, he tripped over something on the ground and fell on his face; looking behind him, he saw that the Life Sword had somehow found its way in here as well. He crawled over to it and grabbed it by the hilt, feeling scared and wanting some sort of defense. Almost in response, the far wall suddenly shifted; looking over, Lan saw virus after virus empty out of the wall, marching toward him.

"Stay back!" Lan swung the Life Sword at the viruses, but the weight of the sword pulled him over to his side, and he fell over; an energy wave burst forth from the sword, but flew upward into the ceiling, away from the viruses. The sword clanged loudly against the control panel, and all the viruses yelped at the sound, starting to clamor faster. Lan rubbed his head, looking over at the sword glowing with energy, and got an idea just crazy enough to work. As the viruses raced toward him, Lan stood up, the Life Sword over his head; summoning all his strength, he plunged the sword into the control panel up to the hilt.

Sparks started flying out of the control panel at a rapid pace, as Alpha's horrible shrieking filled the air, intensely loud. Lan covered his ears, in pain at the horrific sound, as energy started erupting from the control panel as well. Screens around him started exploding, the glass disintegrating as heat erupted all around. Lan fell to his knees, his senses completely overcome, the shrieking growing unbearable. He closed his eyes tight, unable to make sense of anything, as the world around him started to explode and melt away.

* * *

After what seemed like eternity, Lan dared to open his eyes. Expecting to find more of Alpha's orange residue, he was surprised to find himself staring down at gray concrete. He sat up, looking around in abject surprise; he found himself in the middle of a crosswalk in downtown Den City, with buildings, mailboxes, and traffic lights all around him. The streets were lined with human bodies, each of them slowly returning to consciousness and looking around with equal surprise. There was not a Navi or program in sight.

"No way... we didn't..." Lan's hand shot to his hip, where he grabbed his PET and pulled it out, hoping against hope. Staring into the screen, he found no one there to stare back. His face fell, as he let his hands drop to the ground.

"Megaman... we did it..." Lan felt tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes.

"That you did."

Lan jumped at a voice from behind him; turning around quickly, he saw his father standing behind him, smiling, with his hands in his pockets.

"Dad!" Lan leaped up, running over and hugging his father tight. "You're alright!"

Yuichiro chuckled, patting his son on the shoulder. "A little worse for wear, maybe, but it looks like everything turned out alright."

"Dad... I don't even know how I did it... I just tried to destroy the control panel inside Alpha..."

"That actually makes sense..." Lan looked up, wiping his eyes, as his father continued. "There was something about Alpha that was maintaining the connection between the real world and the Cyberworld... my guess is, you managed to destroy it, through some sort of luck. You two boys really came through."

Lan's face fell again. "Dad... Megaman... he never returned to my PET..."

"Not to yours, no..." Yuichiro pulled out his PET, as Lan's eyes widened. "Somehow or another, he ended up in mine." He pulled out the link cable and connected his PET to Lan's, transferring the Navi to its proper home. Lan took another look, as his father's phone rang, to find Megaman grinning back at him, giving a thumbs-up.

"I knew you could do it, Lan!"

"Megaman!" Lan hugged the PET tight, before returning his gaze to the screen. "Don't do that! You scared me to death, for Pete's sake!"

Megaman rubbed the back of his head. "Well, we didn't have a lot of options... it looks like everything's okay now, though, right?"

Lan nodded. "It looks like it... the real world is back to normal, anyway..."

"What about the Cyberworld?" Megaman asked, as Dr. Hikari put his phone away. Lan looked up at him.

"As far as the Officials can tell from first glance, there's a whole lot of Alpha left over in the Cyberworld, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything," Dr. Hikari responded. "Looks like its brain was destroyed, along with whatever else you two took care of... it's just going to be a big cleanup job now."

"Gah! You won't get away with this!"

Everyone jumped and turned around, to see a practically foaming Mr. Match, with his hands cuffed behind his back, as he tried to break free form the grip of two strong police officers. "Do you know who I am?! Let me go this instant, before you regret it!"

"For God's sake, shut up, will you?" A few yards behind, Iroaya Madd was walking much more cooperatively with two other policemen, as police cars pulled up to the lot of them. "I swear, if I have to share a car with you I'm going to kill you myself..."

"What? They've been caught already?" Lan goggled, trying to find his watch. "How long has the real world been back to normal?"

"About 15 minutes," Yuichiro responded, walking over to Lan. "We've been working since the instant it was restored, trying to tie up all the loose ends."

"Loose ends..." Lan's eyebrows shot up. "Wait! What about Bass? And Gospel?"

"Nowhere to be found. I suppose it's for the better... they may have retreated to Wily, but we'll be able to recover World Three's location from Alpha's leftover data."

"By then, Wily will probably be long gone, though..." Lan watched as the city returned to a temporary chaos; mothers called out for their children, people ran into their homes, and confusion abounded.

"Probably... but with no resources available to him, it'll be almost impossible for him to even run for that long, let alone try anything like this again." Yuichiro rubbed Lan's head, messing his hair up slightly. "He ran into something he didn't count on..."

Lan grinned sheepishly. "Does this mean I'm still in trouble?"

Yuichiro laughed, as the pair started walking off, heading home. "No, you're still in trouble, don't worry about that. I may go a bit easy on you, though..."

The two Hikaris headed back toward the suburb of ACDC, both tired and looking for rest. They would come to appreciate the peace that followed in the days ahead, while ready and waiting for any evil that would try to rear its head.

* * *

_Story 1: New Origins_

_End_


	15. Story 2, Chapter 1: Registration

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 2: The Sun And The Moon_

* * *

Chapter 1: Registration

"Lan, I'm telling you we're going the wrong way!"

Megaman stared down into his PET as he skated down the street as fast as he could. "We don't have time to argue about this! The deadline is coming up soon!"

"'When the lights go out, the show begins!'" Megaman recited. "It's the movie theater, it's got to be! That's where the shows are played!"

"But that's too obvious!" Lan responded. "Everyone's going to go there; I bet it's going to be the observatory instead, just to try and weed people out! Ugh..."

He stopped on the sidewalk, looking down at his watch. "Okay, this ends in thirty minutes. We've got just enough time to check both."

Megaman nodded. "The movie theater's closest; let's check that first."

Lan nodded in response, taking off at high speed down the sidewalk, not noticing the silver-and-black-haired boy watching him from another street.

* * *

Two months had passed since Alpha's attack on Den City. The world had not seen hide nor hair of Dr. Albert Wily since that time, despite an intense manhunt conducted by the government of Electopia. Another manhunt, performed by SciLab on the Net, found no trace of the Viral Beast Gospel, or the independent Navi Bass; both were presumed destroyed, completely absorbed by Alpha and their data lost.

Aside from Wily, several World Three operators were eventually uncovered. Kenichi Match was found guilty of conspiracy to commit acts of terror, and sentenced to ten years in prison; Iroaya Madd received a similar sentence, but reduced it severely by divulging all she knew about World Three and her uncle, Dr. Wily. Count Zapp, Elecman's operator, had fled to his native country of Ameroupe and claimed amnesty, while Takeo Inukai, operator of Beastman, was quickly found and imprisoned. Various other low-level members of World Three and Gospel were found; some were imprisoned, while others were reformed, having been brainwashed. The assets of both groups were seized and given to the Electopian government, who distributed it to homes and businesses harmed by the terrorist actions.

Life had returned to normal for Lan Hikari. School let out for the summer a month after Alpha was defeated, and Lan and Megaman garnered a reputation as a highly skilled operator/Navi team. Dr. Hikari found himself at home much more often, his workload having dropped after the dissolving of World Three, and he began spending more time with his family, while Lan often found himself out with his friends in downtown Den City or elsewhere.

It was on one such excursion that they passed a large, conspicuous, colorful poster on the window of the arcade; Dex ran to it immediately, and quickly motioned for the others to take a look. Everyone crowded around to read:

_The International Netbattle Coalition, in cooperation with the governments of the world, are proud to host the international_

_**Red Sun/Blue Moon Netbattle Tournament**_

_Compete to be the world's greatest Netbattler!_

_Grand Prize: 10,000,000 Zennys_

_1st Prize: 5,000,000 Zennys_

_2nd Prize: 2,000,000 Zennys_

_3rd Prize: 1,000,000 Zennys_

_Other local prizes also available_

_Den City tournament organizer: Higsby's Chip Shop_

_Registration: 9:00 - 11:00 am, Saturday, July 13_

"Wow! The greatest Netbattler in the world!" Lan's eyes lit up at the thought.

"Ten million Zennys!" Dex goggled, reading the prizes over again, as Yai rolled her eyes. "Think of all I could buy with money like that!"

"July 13... that's a week from today," Mayl observed; she pulled out her PET. "What do you think, Roll? Sounds like fun!"

"Yea!" Roll added. "Let's go for it, Mayl!"

"You'll have to get past me if you want to win!" Dex gestured to himself. "Me and Gutsman have been training for months! Not even an Official Navi can beat us now!"

"Really? You've fought Official Navis?" Yai asked, as the four started walking down the sidewalk.

"Well, no, but I bet we could beat one!" This triggered a brief argument between Yai and Dex; Mayl giggled as the two bickered back and forth, while Lan pulled out his PET.

"Imagine that... battling the strongest Netbattlers in the world! What do you think?"

"Sounds like a lot of fun!" Megaman answered. "It's been months since we had a really good Netbattle!"

Mayl grinned, looking on. "Sounds like you actually liked fighting World Three, Mega!" Megaman shrugged, as Lan laughed.

"Me and Megaman were made for Netbattling!" Lan punched at the air, mock fighting, and Mayl grinned again, as the four continued down the street, all of them looking forward to the event one week later.

* * *

One week later, registration for the Red Sun/Blue Moon Tournament had begun. Almost every Netbattler in Den City had turned up at Higsby's, looking for their chance to earn recognition. Everyone except...

"Lan!" Megaman yelled. "Wake up! You're going to miss the tournament!"

Lan was snoring loudly in his bed at 10:30 am, with only thirty minutes until registration closed. Too excited to fall asleep properly, he had stayed awake until nearly two in the morning, and was fast asleep until Megaman began yelling. He slowly sat up, blinking and rubbing his eye.

"Ugh... what time is it?"

"10:30!" Megaman called out, exasperated and hoarse.

"What?!" Lan leapt out of bed. "I overslept! We have to get going!"

Megaman rubbed his head. "That's what I've been SAYING..."

Ten minutes later, Lan flew out the door, his PET at his hip, and skated downtown toward Higsby's. Upon arriving, Lan was not surprised to find the store completely rammed with customers; he managed to squeeze his way in, looking around for the owner.

"Ugh, I can't see anything... there's so many people in here!"

"Lan!" Lan turned quickly at the sound of his name being called; he saw Yai beckoning him over, along with Mayl and Dex. He ran over to them quickly.

"Guys! Where's Higsby? Isn't he doing the registration thingy?"

Mayl nodded, pointing Lan in the right direction. "You better hurry!"

"What? Don't I still have twenty minutes?"

Mayl shook her head. "There's this thing... a scavenger hunt, like... look, just go! Higsby will tell you!" Lan nodded, slowly making his way closer to the back of the shop. It wasn't long before he heard a familiar voice.

"Grr... all these people getting their hands all over my chips, huh..."

Lan stood on his toes, looking over the crowd, to find the bespectacled, wild-haired Higsby, an avid chip collector and the owner of the store. Waving at him, he finally got the attention of the man, who waved him over.

"Lan! Thought you wouldn't make it, huh!"

"Am I still in time to register?" Lan squeezed through, finally getting to the counter. Higsby reached under the counter and pulled out a slip of paper.

"Hold on Lan. It's not that easy, huh." He handed Lan the slip of paper. "You've gotta pass the preliminary qualifier, huh. The tournament guys put special stands around town, and you gotta jack in and defeat all the viruses if you wanna register."

Lan looked down at the slip of paper, which had a rather cryptic message: _Where science gives life._ "How am I supposed to find them?"

"You gotta interpret the clues, huh." Higsby adjusted his glasses. "Each stand will lead you to the next one. Once you find the last one, you'll get a special chip, then you can register. But you gotta get back here before noon, huh!"

Lan nodded. "Got it!" He turned quickly and carefully made his way out of the shop, as Mayl, Yai and Dex watched.

"He better make it!" Dex declared. "I can't call myself champ unless Gutsman beats up Megaman."

Yai smirked. "I'd like to see that." The three stopped talking for a minute when they saw a familiar face walk through the store.

"Huh? What's he doing here? Is he entering this tournament, too?" Mayl watched as the boy walked up toward the counter, unconcerned with the other customers in his way. Higsby's eyebrows raised.

"Chaud! What are you doing back? You registered already, huh?"

Chaud walked up to the counter and muttered something the other three couldn't hear. Higsby listened intently and nodded.

"Is that so, huh... well, if anyone else comes in to register, I'll let them know." Chaud nodded and turned, when Higsby suddenly jumped.

"Wait! Lan Hikari doesn't know, huh! He just came in and ran off to find the clues!"

Chaud rubbed his forehead. "Ugh... now I'm going to have to chase him down, haven't I?" He walked up to the counter and received something from Higsby, then continued out of the store, turning the corner and heading off; Yai, Mayl and Dex watched him go.

"Did anyone hear what he said?" Dex wondered; the other two shook their heads.

* * *

"Almost... there..."

An hour later, Lan was breathing hard, as he headed toward the outskirts of Den City, trying to get to the observatory as fast as he could; it was in sight now, only a block or so away.

"We're running short on time," Megaman commented. "We've got about fifteen minutes to delete the viruses and get back to Higsby's... I hope this is the last clue."

Lan finally got up to the observatory door and went to wrench it open, but was surprised to find it locked.

"What? Is the stand on the outside, then?" He started skating all around the outside of the building, trying to find the yellow, Mettool-topped stand that would contain the viruses.

"Lan, what's wrong? Can you find it?"

"No..." Lan moved as fast as he could around the building, groaning when he saw the front door. Frustrated and exhausted, he yanked on the door handle again, banging on the door.

"Dammit! We were so close..." Lan rested his head against the door angrily, annoyed with himself, and the challenge, and most things in general. He was about to skate around the building again, when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He whirled around quickly in surprise, to see Chaud holding up a data chip.

"Chaud! Is this your..."

"Don't be stupid, of course it's not mine." Lan held out his hand, and Chaud dropped the chip into it. "Someone's playing dirty. The final virus machine went missing from here about an hour ago."

Lan looked down at the chip in his hand. "So this..."

"That's your ticket to registration," Chaud replied. "Now get moving, you've got 15 minutes." Lan nodded and dashed off, as Chaud followed behind at a more leisurely pace.

* * *

Back at Higsby's, Lan's friends were all staring at the clock, counting down the last few minutes and, eventually, the last few seconds.

"Oh God, he's not going to make it..." Mayl folded her arms. "What was it that Chaud told Higsby about, anyway..."

"I don't know, but it looks like it screwed him up pretty bad," Dex commented, as they all watched the second hand count down toward noon. 20... 19... 18...

"Wait! Don't close yet!"

Lan flew through the doors of the shop, forcing his way through the crowd and to the front counter. "Higsby... Chaud... got it..."

"Just in time, huh!" Higsby took the chip and inserted it into a nearby machine, quickly entering Lan's information. A few seconds later, the machine let out a satisfactory beep.

"Got it! You're in, Lan!" Lan grinned, as he felt a heavy hand clap him on the shoulder.

"Way to go, Lan!" Dex declared. "Good to see you'll be in the tournament too!"

Lan turned and rested his hands on his knees, breathing heavily, as Mayl giggled. "Maybe you should have woken up a little earlier, huh?"

"Yea, yea..." Lan looked up for a minute, and saw Chaud walking past the entrance to the store. His grin faded, as he thought back to the last tournament Chaud participated in, at the arcade; how Chaud had beaten down first his Navi, and then his pride.

"Hold on..." Lan walked forward and out of the store, running after Chaud. "Hey! Chaud!"

Chaud stopped, as Lan came up from behind him. "You... why did you help me? I thought..."

"Thought I hated you?"

Lan blinked. "Er... yea... I mean, the last tournament, and Gospel..."

Chaud sighed, turning around. "Lan Hikari... you'd make a terrible Official."

"What?" Lan asked, as Chaud continued.

"You're not good at making tough decisions... decisive action isn't your forte, and you endangered a lot of people becase of it. However... you did defeat Bass, you destroyed Alpha... despite your screwups, you manage to come through in the end, on the back of your Netbattling skills. We owe you our lives, as much as it kills me to say it. So I decided you should get that assistance."

Lan blinked, still a bit surprised to hear Chaud say that, before nodding. "I... see. Well... thanks..."

"Don't thank me yet. I still have no intention of going easy on you in this tournament." Chaud turned around again, heading off, before Lan spoke up again.

"So... why are you entering the tournament?"

Chaud smirked. "Because I'm the best Netbattler in the world."

Lan grinned. "We'll see about that." He watched Chaud leave, before turning around and heading back into Higsby's, ready to give the competition his all.


	16. Chapter 2: A Minor Leak

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 2: The Sun And The Moon_

* * *

Chapter 2: A Minor Leak

"Battle over! The winner is Lan Hikari!"

"Yes!" Lan pumped his fist into the air as he jacked Megaman out of the battle computer; his opponent did the same, grumbling, and walked out of the arena, as the spectators cheered from the stands.

"This concludes the Round 2 matches! The third round pairings will be posted immediately in the competitor's area!" The tournament official cleared his throat. "The tournament will resume in 30 minutes. Feel free to step outside and get some fresh air!"

As some of the observers got up and headed out, Lan quickly leapt down the stairs toward the competitor's lounge, eager to see who his next match would be with. As he walked through the doors separating the arena from the lounge, he noticed the crowd of participants ahead of them, all shoving at each other and trying to see who their next battle would be with. Lan ran forward, squeezing his way in and taking a look at the standings, trying to see what had happened.

Whittled down from hundreds of initial entrants in Den City, the tournament proper pitted the 32 best Netbattlers against each other in single elimination. They had been separated into two blocks, and the winner from each block would move on to the national level. Lan had cleared the first two rounds and had two more to go; he ran his finger down the page, trying to find who his next opponent would be.

"The Navi's name is Aquaman," Lan recited to Megaman. "Nobody I've ever heard of before..."

"How did the others do?" Megaman asked; Lan looked across the page, searching for familiar names.

"Looks like Dex is up against Chaud in the next round... that'll be interesting... but Yai lost her match last round."

"That's too bad." Megaman rubbed his head. "Then again, expensive Battlechips can only get you so far..."

"Mayl made it!" Lan announced cheerfully. "Her match is the one right before mine, it looks like."

"So we're last again, huh?" Megaman stretched. "Well, at least that gives us some time to relax before our next match. C'mon, let's head outside."

Lan nodded, exiting the lounge and navigating the hallways until he left DenDome, Den City's official Netbattle arena, and stepped into the sunlight. After taking a second to shield his eyes, he walked out into the front plaza. "I wonder what's to eat around here..."

"Lan!" Lan looked around at the sound of his name being called; lower on the plaza, Mayl and Dex were waving at him. Waving back, Lan ran over to them.

"Hey, guys! We all made it! Semifinals!"

"Except Yai," Mayl added, as Lan and Dex shared a high-five. "She fought against that Chaud boy... it was a pretty bad loss."

"Think we should go cheer her up?" Lan inquired, as Mayl shook her head.

"No, I think she'll be fine. This didn't matter that much to her."

Dex smirked and thumped his fist against his chest. "Well, I'll get that Chaud back for her! He's not going to last thirty seconds against me! Then I'll win the finals and go on to the national level!"

Lan grinned, as the three started walking back toward downtown. "Good luck with that. Protoman won't be that easy, trust me."

"Good luck to you too, Lan." Mayl smiled. "If Megaman and Roll both win, they'll fight each other in the final round, and she really wants to fight Megaman. I'm pretty eager myself!"

"I'll have to win, then! And you too!" Lan's stomach suddenly rumbled, and he looked down. "Though... maybe we should get something to eat first..."

"Yea!" Dex stepped to the front of the pack. "I'm up for some hamburgers! Let's go!"

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Dex and Lan leaned back in their chairs, satiated and satisfied.

"Boy, that hit the spot!" Dex declared. "Seven hamburgers from the best place in town!"

"Geez..." Lan patted his stomach. "I could never eat as much as you do, Dex."

"Not like you didn't try," Mayl observed. "You two are going to make yourselves sick with your eating contests, I swear." She wiped her mouth with a napkin and stood up. "We should get back soon..."

Lan looked at his PET. "Yea, definitely. Dex's match is in ten minutes."

"Bring it on!" Dex stood up, flexing his arms. "I'm fully charged and ready to go! Let's move!" He headed out the door with a pep in his step, as Mayl and Lan followed him from behind.

Six minutes later, they had reached the DenDome, and Dex was raring to go. Lan, however, was a little worse for wear.

"Um, Lan..." Megaman inquired, as Lan slowed down a bit, holding his stomach. "Are you alright?"

"Ugh..." Lan held his upset stomach, starting to regret hamburger #4. "I'll be fine..." He looked around briefly and spotted a public restroom nearby.

"You guys go on ahead," he indicated to Mayl and Dex. "I'll be right back." He hustled over to the bathrooom at top speed, as Mayl sighed.

"I knew he'd make himself sick..."

"Ah, he'll be fine," Dex replied. "Come on, my match is starting any minute!" The two continued on into the DenDome arena, as Lan made his way into the bathroom. A minute later, a young, brown-haired man walked out, shutting the door behind him and grinning as he placed an "Under Maintenance" sign on it.

* * *

"Mayl did warn you you'd get sick, you know."

"Yea, yea..." Lan answered, washing his hands and face. "Ugh... feeling better, at least..."

"Come on, we should get out of here," Megaman replied. "We should be able to catch the end of Dex's match against Chaud."

Lan nodded, heading for the door, a bit surprised to see it shut. He grabbed it and tried to push it open, but was even more surprised to find it locked.

"Huh? Locked?" Lan shoved harder, to no avail. "Who locked the door? I'm stuck!"

"What? Who locks a public bathroom from the outside?" Megaman wondered, as Lan started pounding on the door.

"Hey! Someone! Let us out!" He kept pounding and shouting until he noticed something near his feet; looking down, he noticed the floor of the bathroom was covered by a thin layer of water, moving about slightly. Something came to mind, and he ran back into the bathroom, turning a corner toward the shower area to find all of the showers on.

"Whah! What's going on here?!" Lan ran over to one of the water knobs and tried to turn it, but it was completely locked in place, as the water rained down on him. Changing tack, he kneeled down toward the drains in the floor, wondering why they weren't draining, to find them all sealed with some form of rubber cememt; he attempted to claw through them, but had no luck.

"Lan? What's going on? I can't see anything!"

"Someone's filling the bathroom up with water! They've turned on the showers and plugged all the drains!"

"What?!" Megaman exclaimed. "You're going to drown in there!"

Lan stood up, frustrated and wet, and ran back toward the door, as the water started creeping up his legs. "We have to get this thing open!" He slammed his shoulder against the door a couple times. "I'm not going to die in a stupid public bathroom!"

"Lan! Try jacking me into the lock!" Megaman chimed in. "I'll get us out of here!"

Lan nodded, pulling out the jack-in cable on his PET and sending Megaman into the Cyberworld.

* * *

"An amazing victory! Eugene Chaud defeats Dex Oyama and movs on to the finals!"

The DenDome crowd cheered as Chaud and Dex jacked out. Dejected, Dex headed out of the stadium with his head down, without shaking Chaud's hand; Chaud, who wouldn't have shook anyhow, put his hands back into his pockets and walked out as well.

"Poor Dex," Mayl observed, as she and Yai watched from the stands. "He probably thought he'd make it farther than that... he's not taking this too well."

"Well, what did he expect?" replied a rather unsympathetic Yai. "Battling an Official... they're some of the best battlers in Electopia! He's probably lucky he lasted as long as he did."

"Maybe so," Mayl hopped up out of her seat. "It's too bad Lan didn't get to see the match. What is he doing anyway?"

"Still sick, probably." Yai shifted in her seat, a bit restless. "He'll be back for his match, I wouldn't worry about that. He'd never miss this."

Mayl grinned. "I know that; I just don't want him to miss mine. I want him to see what he'll be up against!"

Yai laughed. "You better go get ready; you're on after this next match. Good luck!" Mayl waved and headed off to the contender's lounge.

* * *

"Any luck, Megaman?" Lan asked, growing concerned as the water went up past his knees. Megaman, in the Cyberworld, had plenty of wading of his own to do, through knee-deep water.

"Nothing but water here, too... I think I'm close to the lock program, though..." Megaman's eyebrows raised as he spotted a program bobbing about in the water, and he trudged his way toward it.

"That's close enough!" a high-pitched voice called out. Megaman quickly looked around for the source of the voice, when the ground started rumbling, and a massive tidal wave formed in front of Megaman, sweeping him up and knocking him over, face down in the water. He quickly sat up, spitting out a mouthful of water.

"Who is that?" Show yourself!" Megaman demanded, standing up and forming a buster. Right on cue, a short, small Navi fell out of the sky, landing amidst the water in front of Megaman. He was colored blue, and wore a giant, clear sphere of water around his overlarge head.

"This is as far as you go, Megaman! Your operator won't live to see the third round!"

Megaman blinked, staring at the surprisingly small being. "Who... who are you exactly?"

The Navi got visibly irritated. "What, you think just because I'm small you can treat me like a kid?!"

Megaman took a step forward, confused. "Erm... no... I just..."

The Navi stretched his palm out toward Megaman, and a massive jet of water sprang from it; Megaman yelped and jumped out of the way. "I'm Aquaman, and I'm going to defeat you here!"

"Aquaman?!" Megaman glared, forming a sword on his free arm. "You're supposed to be my opponent! Why are you doing this here? Why are you attacking Lan?!"

"It's not a Navi's place to ask questions!" Aquaman started throwing small bombs toward Megaman, who had to work to dodge due to the water; the bombs exploded, spraying more water around. "My job is to make sure you don't unlock this door, and that's what I'll do!"

"Gah!" Megaman cried out, as he got splashed. "Is there anything this guy can do that doesn't end in more water?"

"We've had enough of water!" Lan chimed in, the water in the bathroom past his waist; he looked through his soggy chip folder, trying to find something that would work against water. "We have to find something to stop this guy, and end it quick!"

"Forget it!" Aquaman spoke, forming another tidal wave that swept up Megaman, sending him away from Aquaman. "You'll never defeat me before your operator drowns! There's no way!"

Megaman spit out more water, standing up and looking around; upon seeing something in the corner of his eye, he grinned. "Don't forget, Aquaman, I don't have to defeat you... I just have to unlock this door!"

He took off for the program, as Aquaman gasped. "No! I won't let you!" He raised his hands in the air, creating a massive geyser out of the water where Megaman was; everything shot directly upward, over a hundred feet in the air and well out of reach of the door program. Looking upward triumphantly, he grew concerned when he saw no sign of Megaman above. An instant later, Megaman appeared right behind Aquaman, the effect of an Area Steal.

"Right here!" he declared; Aquaman turned around quickly, and was just barely able to dodge a swipe from Megaman's sword. Megaman grinned, and kept slashing away, giving Aquaman only enough time to dodge each swipe.

"Enough!" Aquaman declared a minute later; raising his hands up, another tidal wave formed between him and Megaman. Grinning again, he had no time to react when a massive burst of air punched a hole right through the tidal wave and knocked Aquaman backward. Megaman dove through the hole, firing his buster in Aquaman's direction and brandishing his sword again. Dodging another swipe, Aquaman leapt high into the air, forming a massive BigBomb above his head.

"Hyaah! Time for you to be deleted!" Aquaman hurled the BigBomb down toward Megaman, where it exploded in a huge fireball; a shockwave of water was sent all along the arena from the explosion. As the smoke cleared, Aquaman looked around for his opponent, but once again found him nowhere. "What?! Where are you now?"

Lan grinned from within the bathroom stall; he was floating in the water now, which was quickly approaching the ceiling. As Aquaman looked around, Megaman quickly appeared next to the door program with another Area Steal. He grinned up at Aquaman as he put his hand on it.

"Too bad, Aquaman! Looks like you failed!" he shouted, as he activated the door program. "Good luck getting to DenDome on time!" Megaman disappeared in a flash of light, jacking out, as Aquaman goggled.

Outside of DenDome, a young girl of twenty was walking over toward the public restroom, needing to wash her hands after eating. She thought to herself what she was going to do after the tournament was over; maybe she'd go and see her mother over in another suburb. As she approached the small building, the door to the men's room burst open, and a massive wall of water erupted from it. She shrieked and leaped out of the way as hundreds of gallons of water spilled out into the plaza, along with a young brown-haired boy, as several other people yelped and stepped back.

After all the water had drained into the sidewalk, Lan sat up, rubbing his head and looking into his PET, to see that Megaman had safely returned. He looked around to see a large group of rather surprised people staring at him.

"Er... um... bathroom's... still not fixed." He hopped up and ran into the arena, water dripping off of him freely, as everyone continued to stare.

* * *

"Where on Earth is Lan?" Mayl wondered from the stands. "He's going to forfeit in a minute! What's happened?"

Everyone in the stands was muttering, wondering where the young competitor had gone to; at the battle station was the same young man who had placed the sign on the bathroom, grinning knowingly.

"Lan Hikari, this is your last chance to come and battle before Bruno wins by forfeit!" the announcer called out into his microphone. "You will forfeit your match in ten seconds! Nine... eight... seven..."

"Look, there he is!" someone shouted; everyone turned their attention to the entrance, where a completely soaked Lan was running in. Everyone started mumbling again, louder than before, wondering what on earth Lan could have been doing, as Lan ran up to the battle station.

"What's going on? Why is he all wet?" Mayl wondered, as Yai yelled out "Stop doing that! Get here on time, would you?!"

"Er... Lan Hikari has arrived..." the announcer managed, as Lan grinned, still dripping water onto the floor. "Are... you quite alright?"

"What?! What are you doing here?!" his opponent, Bruno, demanded.

"I was just cooling off a bit," Lan retorted. "Sorry I'm late, but I'm here and ready to battle!"

The announcer regained his composure. "Lan has arrived just in the nick of time! The battle will now begin! Both competitors, jack in your Navis now!"

Lan pulled out the cable on his PET, shaking the water out of it before plugging it in and sending Megaman to the Cyberworld. His attention turned to his opponent, who was standing with his PET in his hand, completely unsure of what to do now. Lan grinned knowingly; Aquaman was still trapped in the Cyberworld of the bathroom, and his operator couldn't leave to go get him.

"Bruno, please jack in Aquaman so the battle can begin." Bruno did nothing, still paralyzed with confusion and indecision.

Lan smirked. "What's wrong? Your Navi's ready to go, isn't he?"

Bruno stood for another few seconds, before suddenly turning around and hightailing it out of the arena. The crowd watched in stunned silence, before the announcer interrupted.

"Bruno... has left the stadium..." He cleared his throat. "Bruno is no longer present for his match! Lan Hikari wins by forfeit!"

The crowd erupted again, not in cheers, but in confused babbling, as the announcer tried to call for silence.

"Everyone, this concludes the semi-final matches! The final matches will begin in thirty minutes!" The crowd continued talking as they filed out of the stadium, and Lan walked his way out, into the competitor's lounge. As he walked through, he saw Mayl and Yai running in from the other door.

"Lan!" Mayl called out. "What's going on? Where were you? Why did your opponent just leave? Why are you all _wet?!_"

Lan laughed. "It's a really weird story. I'll tell you later, I gotta go get myself dried off." He walked past the both of them, out of the lounge, as they watched him go, still completely confused.


	17. Chapter 3: Den City Championship

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 2: The Sun And The Moon_

* * *

Chapter 3: Den City Championship

Mayl handed Lan another towel, which he used to continue drying off his hair.

"Thanks." Mayl nodded as he continued, nearly dry and in a clean set of clothes as they sat in the competitor's lounge, along with Yai and Dex.

"So Aquaman trapped you in the bathroom with the water on," Yai prompted. "How did you get out? Megaman?"

Lan nodded. "He managed to unlock the door after a couple minutes, then the water kinda dumped me outside."

"Turned the entire plaza into a puddle, too," Dex added, looking outside and laughing. "Ha! I think the water's still running!"

Lan grinned, though Mayl remained distressed. "This isn't funny, Lan. You could have drowned in there..."

"That guy was totally crazy, whoever he was," Yai added. "Willing to kill people just to win... the Officials had better take care of him!"

"They couldn't find him," Lan replied. "They looked all over, but he's long gone, probably... I hope he never comes back."

"Me too..." Mayl held herself, unnerved. "I can't shake the feeling that something is seriously wrong here, and not just with that guy..."

"Nah, you're reading too much into it." Lan tossed the towel aside, shaking his hair out. "That guy was pretty crazy, but the rest of the tournament has been just fine. And he'll never get near DenDome again, I'm sure; he's out of the tournament now."

"I hope so..." Mayl cut herself off, as loud cheering erupted from the nearby arena, as well as the announcer's voice. All four looked up at a television in the corner, to see the announcer declaring the end of the match.

"Looks like Chaud won..." Lan commented; both Dex and Yai grumbled in response, having been defeated rather handily by the young Official, as they watched Chaud proceed to the VIP portion of the stands, joining an older man in a suit. "Can't say I'm too surprised..."

"That means we're up next, Lan." Mayl stood up, smiling. "You ready?"

"You bet!" Lan stood up after her, both of them waiting for their cue to enter as they watched the announcer.

"Eugene Chaud advances to the national tournament! Let's give him a big hand!" After some more applause, the announcer signaled for quiet. "And now, for our final match of the tournament, to decide who will be joining Chaud in the Electopian championship!"

"Good luck," Mayl whispered. Lan grinned and whispered back a "You, too."

"Both representing ACDC Town, we have Lan Hikari, with his powerful Megaman, battling against Mayl Sakurai, with her lightning-fast Navi, Roll!"

The crowd continued making noise as Lan and Mayl entered the stadium together, separating at the stairs and heading toward their respective positions.

"Both of you, please jack your Navis into the battle arena!"

Mayl grinned as she pulled out her jack-in cable. "You better not hold back on me, Lan!"

Lan laughed in response, as he sent Megaman into the Cyberworld. "Don't you worry about that!"

Both Megaman and Roll appeared in the Cyberworld, close to each other. They quickly walked forward and shook hands.

"I hope you're ready for a beating, Megaman," Roll teased, grinning.

Megaman smirked in response. "I'm ready to give one out, if that's what you mean." The two Navis moved backwards, as the announcer called once more for quiet.

"Both Navis are ready! Let the battle... begin!"

* * *

Roll immediately dashed forward, on the offensive and barely visible. Megaman braced himself, but Roll quickly got inside his defenses, punching him square in the gut before leaping up and kicking him in the face. Reacting quickly, Megaman grasped her foot tightly and spun Roll around before letting her fly toward a nearby rock. Colliding hard, she quickly bounced up and jumped high over Megaman, avoiding his Cannon fire and letting loose with a flurry of arrows.

"Sword!" Megaman's right arm turned into a blade, with which Megaman speedily deflected any arrow headed toward him. He retaliated with a series of Buster shots, which Roll easily dodged in the air.

"Man, she's quick..." Megaman grinned as Roll landed on her feet, some yards away. Both were grinning in anticipation.

_This is gonna be fun_, they both thought, as they dashed at each other.

As the battle continued, the audience watched with rapt attention, oohing and aahing at various maneuvers. Yai cheered on Mayl and Roll, while Dex called for Lan and Megaman's victory. In the VIP box, Chaud sat and watched with his father, Reginald Chaud; Reginald was the chairman of the IPC Corporation, which manufactured Electopia's PETs and Battlechips.

"That blue Navi, Megaman... he's looking to be quite the fighter," Reginald commented. "I thought he was just strong, but he's still fast enough to stave off that little lightning bolt down there. That Lan boy must be a skilled programmer... or just rich."

Chaud shook his head. "No, he's not rich. That's Dr. Hikari's son, down there."

"Really?" Reginald's eyebrows raised. "No wonder, then... his Navi was programmed by a genius. Anyone could go far with that one."

"I'm not sure about that..." Chaud leaned forward a bit, as he watched the two Navis firing light arms at each other. "There's something different about those two... their synergy is like nothing I've ever seen. It's not just any operator that could do that..."

Reginald chuckled. "Not worried about your chances, are you, son?"

Chaud smirked. "Not in the least. I'm just intrigued, is all." He looked around for a minute, stretching one arm, when he noticed something in the corner of his eye. He stood up, trying to get a better look, and saw Bruno, Aquaman's operator, sneaking through the shadows of the arena and entering a door.

"What's up?" Reginald wondered.

"Nothing... just going to stretch my legs, I think." Chaud walked out of the VIP box and down the stairs, discretely following Bruno, as Megaman and Roll clashed on the screens in the center of the room.

* * *

Chaud found himself in a backstage sort of area; this corridor was much more rough, the walls made of pure, unpainted concrete. Thinking he was in an employee area, he looked down the hallway to see Bruno entering another room, one that head underneath the stands of the arena. Moving quietly along the hallway, Chaud walked toward the area, only to hear Bruno quickly walking back out. He quickly ducked behind a corner, flattening himself against the wall as Bruno walked out and down another hall, muttering to himself annoyedly.

"What is he up to..." Chaud wondered to himself; he emerged from hiding and quickly ducked into the area Bruno was before. The cheering was more audible now; they were definitely underneath the stands. He looked around carefully, wondering what there was to do under here, when a certain object managed to catch his attention. Looking upward, near the short ceiling of this room, was a long, black rectangle, about the size of a laptop computer, affixed to the wall.

"What is it, Master Chaud?" Protoman inquired.

"Found something... he must have placed it here..." Chaud reached out to inspect it. "Not sure what it is, though..." He found no buttons on the outside, and tried reaching around to the back; upon touching the back of the device, his hand retracted as if it had been burnt. He grabbed hold of a nearby pole to pull himself up, inspecting it more closely; he could see C4 written on gray mounds on the back.

"Damn, I was afraid of this... it's a bomb, and a large one." He took a closer look. "I don't want to know what he's doing, planting explosives..."

"Perhaps he plans to hold them ransom..."

"We're not going to take that chance," Chaud replied, finding a jack-in port. Pulling a flashlight out of his belt, he inspected the port carefully and decided it wasn't booby-trapped. "You're going to enter that device and disable it, Protoman."

"Yes, sir." Chaud pulled out his jack-in cable and plugged it in, sending Protoman into the bomb's Cyberworld and sending him a Sword Battlechip.

"You'll have to operate on your own, Protoman. I've got other fish to fry." Chaud pulled the cable back out, putting his PET back into his belt and dashing out of the room, racing after Bruno.

* * *

"Roll Flash!"

Megaman shielded his eyes at the bright light; upon looking back, he found Roll had completely vanished.

"What?" He looked around, but couldn't find a trace of Roll anywhere.

"Did she make herself invisible?" Lan wondered, as Megaman kept looking around.

"No, I don't think so..." Megaman answered, assuming a defensive stance. "I can feel her moving... she's just traveling too fast to be seen... that's amaz- gah!"

Megaman cried out in pain as an arrow pierced his side; looking toward its source, he could see Roll for just an instant before she vanished again. Gritting his teeth, he reached down and pulled the arrow from his side, grunting in pain as he did so.

"Okay, that was less amazing," he muttered. "I need to stop her, but I can't even see her... I can barely just feel her kicking air up around me..."

"Wait, air..." Lan pondered. "That's it!" He reached into his folder, sending Megaman a Shotgun.

Megaman grinned as it appeared on his arm. "I get it..." He aimed and fired a series of shots in all directions, kicking up a large volume of smoke all around. Looking around, he quickly caught sight of a disruption in the smoke, moving around him in circles at an incredible speed.

"There you are..." Megaman grinned, receiving two Energy Bombs and tossing them directly in Roll's path.

"Yaah!" Roll yelped, slowing down and leaping into the air, finally visible again. She quickly looked around, trying to find Megaman; looking behind her, she found Megaman leaping in her direction.

"Got you!" Megaman threw his arm right into her, firing a High Cannon as he did so; reeling from the impact, Roll fell quickly back to the ground and hit it hard, as Megaman landed on his feet.

Lan grinned. "Nice work, Megaman!"

Mayl frowned, but smirked afterward. "Pretty good, Lan, but we're not done yet!" They both grinned, looking into their PETs as Megaman and Roll continued their battle.

* * *

Chaud ran down the hallway until he found himself at a split in the path; he looked in both directions, trying to track down the man he was chasing.

"He shouldn't be this hard to find... how many paths can there be around here?" He walked a little ways down one path, then stopped himself when he heard distant voices. He started inching toward the sound of the talking, trying to get a closer listen.

"...under the stands, as you recommended. I also have access to the intercom... I can make the announcement anytime I want. We could get billions for all those people..."

Another voice spoke, one that Chaud couldn't understand; he kept moving closer.

"That's not the..." Bruno replied. "You mean we're really going to..."

"...not the reason we came," the other voice replied, as Chaud moved close to a doorway; he could hear both of them inside. "The purpose of being here was to establish ourselves in this nation, like we have in Ameroupe and Netopia. With this display, Electopia, too, will grow to fear the name of Nebula."

_Nebula..._ Chaud thought to himself. _So they're expanding operations into this country as well..._ He pulled out his PET and held it in front of him, a little lower; holding it at an angle, he was able to see a reflection of the room within. Bruno was inside, speaking to somebody via his PET.

"Yes, sir, I understand." Bruno nodded. "We will show these people who Nebula really is... I will not fail you." He turned off his PET and turned around, to find Chaud standing in the doorway.

"I don't know what you're planning, but it ends here," Chaud said defiantly, holding his PET by his side.

* * *

Inside the bomb, Protoman was hard at work defusing, using his sword to cut through key wires as he studied them closely.

"Excellent; I'm close now," he muttered to himself. "Only one more to go..."

He walked up to the final group of wires, taking a close look, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Turning quickly, he saw a large number of Spikey and Heavy viruses heading toward him, ready to attack.

"Dammit... I don't have time for this!" Protoman brandished his sword, staring the viruses down as they closed in. "I'm going to have to end this quickly..." He dashed forward, ready to strike, as the bomb remained armed and threatening.

* * *

"Who are you, kid?" Bruno demanded. "I don't have time to deal with brats like you."

"Eugene Chaud, ONB," Chaud replied. "Nebula won't be causing any trouble here, not on my watch."

Bruno laughed. "An Official at your age, eh? Well, that doesn't matter... there's nothing you or any Official can do to stop me now!" He pulled out a remote control, and Chaud's eyebrows raised.

"This remote controls a bomb I have placed under the stadium stands. In ten seconds, everyone watching that match is going to perish! Nebula's name will be known throughout your nation, as the greatest rogue power in the world!" Chaud braced himself, as Bruno, laughing maniacally, pushed the button on the remote.

A few seconds later, Chaud untensed, hearing nothing; Bruno, also hearing nothing, grew angry.

"What? Why didn't it work?!" He started pressing the button repeatedly with his thumb, as Chaud smirked, standing up fully.

"Looks like Protoman did his job," he commented. "Your bomb won't be injuring anyone now... and you've got nowhere else to go."

Bruno smirked, despite being a little panicked. "And I presume you're going to stop me? I'd like to see how you're going to do that, you stupid kid!" Bruno ran directly toward Chaud, his fist raised, before he stopped cold in front of him, his body shaking with the force of 50,000 volts. He fell backward toward the ground, unconscious and twitching lightly, as Chaud stared at him; he held his PET tightly in his hand, the top of which had two metal points, with electricity sparking between them.

"The same way I stop everyone else," Chaud answered, before touching his PET and activating the phone function.

* * *

Megaman and Roll were both breathing heavily, staring each other down in the Cyber arena, after a tough battle.

"An incredible battle! The two Navis appear to be totally equal!" the announcer called out, as the crowd buzzed with excitement.

"He's right... this battle could go on forever if we keep this up..." Megaman stood up a little, catching his breath.

"Then we'll have to step it up a notch," Lan responded, so that Mayl couldn't hear. "We've still got one last good trick up our sleeves... you think you're ready for it?"

Megaman grinned. "Well, if I'm not, we're about to find out..." He extended his arm, focusing intently as a Cannon appeared on the end of it.

"What's he up to...?" Roll wondered, as a High Cannon appeared on Megaman's other arm. Not wanting to take chances, Roll dashed forward and tried to attack, but Megaman avoided it, jumping backward and landing on top of a large boulder behind him. He grinned as he put his hands together, and they glowed a bright white.

"Let's see if you're fast enough to avoid this!" Megaman called out, as the bright light faded, leaving a massive cannon attachment on his arm. He pointed it directly at Roll.

"Zeta Cannon!" he called, as the cannon began firing shots as rapidly as a submachine gun. Roll yelped as massive explosions appeared in front of her, and she took off running. Megaman grinned as he followed her with the Zeta Cannon, the cannon blasts following her closely as she ran in a circle, trying to get ahead of them.

"Gah!" She screeched to a stop as an explosion landed right in front of her, and she looked over to see Megaman still firing. She could do nothing but brace herself as the cannon blasts landed themselves around her.

When the smoke finally cleared, Roll was still standing, having summoned a Barrier to try and protect her. As the barrier fell, she looked upward toward Megaman, to find that he had suddenly disappeared.

"What? Where-" she began, before a set of hands suddenly grabbed her from behind. Looking down, she saw Megaman's left arm holding her tight around the waist, and his sword up against her throat.

Megaman smirked, holding Roll in place, perfectly able to deliver the final blow. "Game, set, match."

Roll closed her eyes and smiled, defeated. "I guess so."

* * *

"Roll and Mayl have admitted defeat! Lan Hikari advances to the national level with Eugene Chaud!"

The crowd let out a huge cheer, as Mayl pulled her cable out of the Cyber arena, smiling sadly. Lan jacked out as well, walking up to her.

"That was a great fight, Mayl," he offered. "I had no idea Roll could be such a tough opponent!"

"Thanks." Mayl smiled, offering her hand. "You and Megaman were great. But you better bring it all home after this, understand?"

Lan grinned, shaking her hand. "You know it!" They started walking down the stairs, back toward the lounge, when Lan noticed Chaud walking toward the same door.

"Hey! Chaud!" Lan ran over to him. "It's going to be you and me at nationals! How about that?"

"Huh?" Chaud blinked, having been rather deep in thought. "Oh, yea... sure..." He kept on walking, going through the doors on his way out of the stadium.

"Er..." Lan boggled for a second. "What's with him? He looks pretty distracted..."

"Lan Hikari and Eugene Chaud are our winners! If both of them would come up here, we'd like to present them with their prizes!"

Lan grinned and turned around. "Ah well... I got other things to think about now." He ran up toward the steps again, ready to claim his trophy as the crowd cheered for him.


	18. Chapter 4: Intermission

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 2: The Sun And The Moon_

* * *

Chapter 4: Intermission

Lan fidgeted on the bench, waiting impatiently.

"Man... he said he'd be done like ten minutes ago..."

"Are you always this antsy, Lan?" Megaman wondered aloud.

"No, I'm just hungry! And I'm getting bored waiting in Dad's office, there's nothing to do here." It was the Tuesday after the Den City Tournament, and Lan's father had suggested the family go out for dinner, to celebrate Lan's victory, which is why Lan found himself waiting in his father's office.

"Give him some time, Lan, you know he's busy..." No sooner had Megaman said this than a nearby door opened, and Yuichiro Hikari walked out, accompanied by another scientist, with long black hair, a monocle, and a goatee.

"That should cover just about everything," Yuichiro said, shaking hands with the scientist. "A pleasure as always, Dr. Regal."

"And yourself, Dr. Hikari." As Regal shook his partner's hand, he saw Lan out of the corner of his eye and walked over. "Ah yes, and this must be Lan. I haven't seen you since you were a toddler." He extended his hand to Lan also.

"Er... hi." Lan accepted his hand, shaking it.

"I saw your performance at the tournament this weekend. Quite extraordinary; I think we can expect great things from you, Lan." Regal stood up and headed out, as Lan watched.

"Who was that?"

"Dr. Lucius Regal," Yuichiro answered. "Not surprising you don't recognize him, it's been years since he was last in the country. He's been doing research for one of our top-secret SciLab projects."

"Really?" Lan wondered. "What is it?"

Yuichiro laughed. "What part of 'top-secret' didn't you get? Now come on, your mother's probably waiting for us to get home." Yuichiro put his hand on Lan's head, mussing his hair. "Ready to go, champ?"

"You bet!" Lan answered.

"Ahem." Both Hikaris looked over, to see Chaud standing in the doorway, much to Lan's surprise. "Dr. Hikari, I believe we were supposed to discuss something..." He looked over at Lan, not expecting him to be present, and clearly not wanting him to hear.

"Ah, yes, that's right..." Yuichiro motioned Chaud over into the room he had just left, much to Lan's chagrin. "Sorry, Lan, I'll be just another five minutes..." He and Chaud entered the room and closed the door, before Lan had a chance to protest.

"What? What is Chaud doing here? Why does he need to talk to my dad?" Lan frowned, sitting back down on the bench, annoyed.

"Must be something pretty important..." Megaman mused. "Chaud did seem pretty distracted after the Den City Tournament, didn't he? Maybe this is related to that."

"Maybe..." Lan looked around the room, boredly, until his eyes came to rest on a drinking glass sitting near his father's desk; he grinned. "Only one way to find out!" He walked over to it and picked it up, heading to the door.

"Lan, we shouldn't be doing this..." Megaman warned.

"Oh come on, what harm could it do?" Lan put the glass on the door, and his ear against the glass, listening in as Chaud and Dr. Hikari spoke.

"...So Nebula is operating in Electopia now..." Yuichiro stated. "Looks like they won't stop until they're feared all over the world."

"The culprit's being questioned right now, but he's not exactly cooperative," Chaud continued. "Though he's not exactly bright, either. He's let slip that Electopia is holding onto something that Nebula wants... something they want to control, I guess."

"What could that be..." Yuichiro mused. "He hasn't mentioned the Cybeasts, has he?"

_Cybeasts?_ Lan wondered, as Chaud answered.

"That's what I thought at first, too, but he hasn't let slip anything about that." Lan heard Chaud pace across the floor. "He could be referring to the Mother Computer for all we know. I don't think he's going to let himself lose any more information."

Lan heard the two walk toward the door, and he dashed away, placing the glass back and hopping back onto the bench. A second later, the door opened, and Chaud and Yuichiro emerged.

"Well, if you find anything else out, let us know immediately," Yuichiro commanded.

"Of course." Chaud nodded and took his leave, walking out of the office. Lan stood up, as Yuichiro stretched his back.

"Finally... now I'm done. Ready to eat?"

Lan nodded. "Yea! Let's go!" The two of them walked out into the hallway of SciLab's second floor.

"Oh, and if I ever catch you listening in on my private conversations again, you're grounded. Understand?"

Lan faltered. "Er..."

Yuichiro smirked, pressing the elevator button. "You're not half as stealthy as you think you are, Snake Pliskin." Lan looked down, as the both of them got in the elevator.

* * *

"Find anything, Megaman?"

Megaman shook his head, as he explored another page of the Net. "No, still nothing. The only place with information about the Cybeasts is Wikipedia."

"Argh, that won't do us any good." Lan rubbed his forehead, as he sat in his computer chair at home. After eating a meal out with his parents, he had come back home and gotten on the Net, hoping to find information about the Cybeasts, but he was turning up completely empty-handed.

"I don't think we're going to find anything, Lan," Megaman offered. "This is stuff your dad didn't want us to hear, it's probably top-secret. Let's just forget about it."

"Yea, I guess you're right..." Lan started to jack Megaman out, when a beeping sound came from his PET.

"Lan, you've got mail!" Megaman opened it and read it aloud. "'If you're looking for information about the Cybeasts, come to the enclosed IP address. Don't bring anyone else.'" Megaman closed it. "This is suspicious... there's no way this isn't a trap, Lan."

"Maybe... but maybe it's not..." Lan thought to himself. "We could be extra careful... if there are any signs of trouble, I could jack you out right away. What do you think, Megaman?"

"Well... I guess I am curious about the Cybeasts..." Megaman nodded. "Alright, let's check it out." Megaman headed back into the Net, heading off toward the specified location.

* * *

Shortly after, Megaman came to a rather shady-looking portion of the Net. He looked around, making sure he was in the right place.

"Here it is, Lan... but I don't see anybody around here."

Lan frowned. "Well, keep looking around, he may be hiding somewhere. But be careful, it could be a-"

With a flash, a wall of light appeared, constructing itself in a wide circle around Megaman; Megaman whirled around, looking at it.

"Damnit! It is a trap!" Megaman gritted his teeth. "Lan! Jack me out, quick!"

"I'm trying!" Lan replied. "My connection's messed up!"

"Shoot..." Megaman walked toward the wall. "This isn't good..."

"You don't know the half of it!" Megaman turned around, to find himself faced with a dozen dark Navis, all of them with weapons out, as one spoke. "You should never have tried to mess with Nebula, you fool! Now you're going to be deleted!"

The Navis all clamored toward him, as Megaman jumped out of the way. "What? Nebula? I was just trying to find something out about the Cybeasts!"

"Don't play dumb!" Two Navis swiped at him with swords simultaneously; Megaman barely dodged, gritting his teeth again.

"Ugh, they're not going to listen, Lan! We need to fight!"

"Got it!" Lan sent Megaman a Wide Sword; Megaman immediately dashed forward and sliced, cutting through two Navis immediately. The others, however, managed to surround him, firing strange beams at him.

"Gah! What are you doing?!" Megaman demanded, as the beams started to encase Megaman's torso, solidifying into an orange, crystalline mass and binding his body and arms.

"Megaman! What's going on?" Lan asked, as Megaman backed away from the other Navis, trying to move his arms in any way.

"They've got me... trapped somehow!" Megaman struggled to move, as another Navi laughed and kicked him over.

"Hah! That was too easy. You gullible fool... prepare to be deleted!"

Megaman closed his eyes, unable to move and waiting for the Navi to strike. After a few seconds, Megaman felt something hit him, but it was much too large to be a sword; he opened his eyes, to see the disembodied head of his captor lying on him. He yelped and shook it away, looking up and around for his savior. Over to his right, wielding a large energy sword, stood a tall, black-armored Navi in a blue cape and black helmet.

"It's you!" one of the Nebula Navis declared. "Everyone, attack him immediately!" The Navis quickly swarmed the mysterious stranger, attempting to attack him, as he turned on them. He dashed forward, swiping furiously with his sword, quickly appearing on the other side of the bunch. The Nebula Navis stood still for a moment, before they all exploded as one, disappearing into deletion.

Megaman watched with wide eyes. "Holy cow... who is this guy..."

The black Navi turned to Megaman, firing a quick shot at his torso and dissolving the orange prison encasing him, as the wall of light surrounding the area disappeared. "Are you alright?"

Megaman nodded, standing up. "Yea, I'm fine... thanks for saving me..."

The Navi nodded, putting his sword away. "A word of advice: if you're looking for the Cybeasts, stop now. You don't know what you're getting yourself into." He turned away. "You should leave." The Navi disappeared in a flash of black light, jacking out.

Megaman stared at where he was, lost in thought, not realizing Lan was calling him. "Megaman! What happened?"

"Uh..." Megaman came to himself. "Some mysterious Navi showed up... deleted all of the Nebula Navis like it was nothing..."

"I'm jacking you out, Megaman," Lan responded. "I don't want to know what else is waiting for you there." Megaman nodded, as he exited in a flash of light, returning to Lan's PET. Lan sat back in his chair as Megaman restored himself.

"Who was this Navi? Did you catch his name?"

Megaman shook his head. "He didn't say... he just appeared, saved me, and left..."

"Weird..." Lan pondered to himself. "How did he know you were there? Was he following you?"

"I don't know, I don't know anything about him... maybe he was nearby, and I was just lucky."

Lan stood up, stretching his arms and looking at the time. "Lucky is right... guess we know what happens if we try to look into the Cybeasts now, huh?"

Megaman nodded. "We should just leave this to your dad and the Officials. We don't need to be getting ourselves in trouble with more bad guys."

Lan walked over to his bed, yawning and setting his PET down on his nightstand. "You're right... besides, we got a major tournament to focus on. We need to keep training so we can win, right?"

Megaman grinned. "Right."

Lan changed into his pajamas, turning off the lights and slipping into bed.

"See you tomorrow, Lan."

Lan nodded. "Night," he mumbled before drifting off to sleep.


	19. Chapter 5: Surprise Assault

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 2: The Sun And The Moon_

* * *

Chapter 5: Surprise Assault

Lan looked up at the massive DenDome, as he prepared to enter for the second time in as many weeks. He grinned to himself in anticipation, as the various denizens of Den City bustled around him, entering through the spectators' entrance.

"Time for round 2, Megaman." Lan looked down at his PET. "You ready?"

"You bet!" Megaman gave Lan a thumbs-up. "After that upgrade your dad gave me, I feel like a million bucks! Let's do this!"

Lan nodded and walked in through the competitor's entrance, ready to see his first-round matchup.

* * *

Earlier that day, Lan had gotten an urgent e-mail from his father: _Come visit me at SciLab before going to the tournament!_ Rushing over quickly, Lan arrived with time to spare, entering his dad's office to find Yuichiro in a rather pleasant mood.

"Bring Megaman over here! I've got something for him."

A minute later, Megaman had been transferred into Yuichiro's PC; while he rested, shut down, a number of devices were examining and working on him.

"So what's this upgrade supposed to do exactly?" Lan asked.

"A couple of things," Dr. Hikari replied, as they watched Megaman through a screen. "Make him a bit faster, a bit stronger, for starters... but there's something else I've put in there as well. Something experimental that I've been working on in my spare time."

"Experimental? What is it?"

Yuichiro smirked. "That'd ruin the surprise. You'll find out what it is when it activates, if it works, that is."

Lan frowned. "What if it doesn't work?"

"Then it's back to the drawing board, is what. It won't break Megaman, though, don't worry. I've added in some failsafes."

Lan tugged his father's sleeve. "So what is it? C'mon, tell me!"

With a loud ding, the machines on the screen stopped working, moving away from Megaman as the Navi slowly opened his eyes.

"Hey, it's done." Yuichiro turned to the screen. "How do you feel, Megaman?"

Megaman jumped up, and found himself surprised by himself. "I'm... fine." He lifted his arms, jumping around a bit. "I feel great! I'm even stronger than I was before!"

Lan grinned. "Awesome! Now we can really tear it up at the tournament!" He plugged his PET into the machine, putting Megaman back.

"Good luck today, Lan. I'm sure you and Megaman will do great!" Yuichiro encouraged. "I won't be there for the first round, but me and your mother will be there for the other rounds."

"Don't worry, Dad! I won't be losing in the first round, trust me!" Lan took off, waving goodbye and heading downtown toward DenDome.

* * *

Walking in, Lan found a variety of faces, male and female, young and old, mostly unfamiliar; some were chatting animatedly amongst themselves, while others kept to themselves, focused intently on the battles ahead. Lan looked down at his watch.

"Looks like we're just in time; the tournament should begin in... seven minutes? I think." Lan looked around again, and one familiar face did jump out at him.

"It's Chaud! Hey, Chaud!" Lan called out, running toward the young Official. Chaud looked over as Lan ran up to him.

"Good to see you're here too! It wouldn't be any fun if we couldn't fight Protoman!"

Chaud smirked. "Well, your fun isn't going to last very long." He motioned his head toward a nearby wall, where Lan could see the tournament pairings on an electronic billboard. "Take a look." Lan headed over to take a look at the tournament pairings.

"What's the story, Lan?" Megaman asked from his PET.

"Looks like two people from this tournament will advance, like last time... we're up against someone named Circusman in the first round..." Lan mused, before his eyebrows shot up. "Ah! Chaud's fight is the one right after ours!"

"No way! So we're going to fight him in the second round?"

"Precisely," Chaud contributed, walking up from behind. "Only one of us will be moving on to the international level. And I don't intend on losing so early on."

"Well, neither do we." Lan grinned. "I've always liked a challenge."

Chaud nodded, grunting. "In any case, you should be on your guard. I'm sure you overheard plenty of my conversation with your father, so you'll know Nebula's got a hand in the tournament somewhere. Stay alert."

Lan's expression turned serious again, and he nodded, as Chaud turned and walked away.

"Nebula... what could they want here at the tournament? Not the Cybeasts, you don't think?" Megaman wondered aloud.

"I'm not sure," Lan responded, pulling out the PET to look at his Navi. "If they are planning anything, I'm sure the Officials are taking care of it. And in the meantime, if they try anything here, we'll be here to stop them!"

Megaman nodded, as the two started discussing the battles they had ahead of them.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!"

The crowd cheered, as the young announcer stood in the middle of the arena. "Welcome to this national round of the Red Sun Netbattle Tournament! All around the Western hemisphere, Netbattlers are vying for their respective national titles, while our friends in the East duke it out in their own rounds of the Blue Moon Tournament!"

He paused to adjust his sunglasses and take a breath. "Once all nations have found their champions, the Red Sun and the Blue Moon will come together at the world championships, in our neighboring nation of Creamland! One of these great competitors will take home the title of World's Greatest Netbattler! Will it perhaps be one of our own, from the great nation of Electopia?"

The crowd cheered raucously, in support of their nation's Netbattlers, and the announcer continued. "Well then, without further ado, let's get this tournament underway!"

An infinite supply of noise and candor, the crowd cheered a third time. Chaud's father was once again in attendance, in the front row of the VIP box, clapping lazily as he watched; a few rows behind him, Yai sat in her family's reserved seats, along with her parents, Mayl, Dex, and their teacher, Ms. Mari, making a much larger and louder group.

From the research room in SciLab, Yuichiro Hikari watched from a television placed on a nearby machine as he worked. Dr. Regal walked up to him.

"So your boy is supposed to be first, I hear?" Yuichiro nodded, and Dr. Regal grinned. "Well, we'll have to see how he does against Electopia's best. This should be interesting." They both paused to watch for a minute, as the announcer continued.

"Our first Netbattler hails from Cyber City, and operates the unique Circusman! Make some noise for Yuika Chirol!" A twenty-something girl emerged from the doors, entering the arena, and was met with applause; she bore a kimono and white face makeup in an Oriental style, and her long black hair was tied up in large loops. She waved to the crowd as she took her place at the Netbattle stand.

"Her opponent is a 6th-grade student from ACDC Town, here in Den City! Operating the powerful Megaman, give it up for Lan Hikari!" The crowd cheered again as Lan walked through the doors, waving largely to the crowd. He quickly spotted his supporters in the VIP box, yelling out and spinning noisemakers.

"Go, Lan!" Yai and Dex yelled out, cupping their hands to their mouths.

"Remember your promise!" Mayl called out; Lan grinned and nodded to her. With Mayl's twelfth birthday a week away, they had agreed that Lan would be relieved of his gift-buying duties if he managed to make it through the national tournament; Mayl was hoping to get pictures of herself with Lan and his trophy, in order to convince a penpal of hers from Ameroupe. Lan approached the battle arena and extended his hand, which Yuika eagerly shook.

"The two Netbattlers are ready! Both of you, jack in your Navis!" Lan pulled out the cord on his PET and sent Megaman into the Cyberworld; Yuika quickly followed suit. Megaman appeared in the Cyberworld and looked up at his opponent; large, round, festive, and covered in red and white circus stripes, Circusman was an intimidatingly large Navi, if not a bit silly looking.

Megaman barely had time to register his opponent's appearance before being aware of cheers all around him. Blinking and looking around, Megaman found that the Cyberworld, too, had been outfitted with spectators' stands; all sorts of Navis were watching and cheering the two competitors on. Megaman had to laugh.

"Man, they thought of everything! Even the Navis get to watch!" He spotted Roll, Gutsman and Glyde in the stands as well, waving and cheering his name; Megaman waved back.

"Hey! Hey!" Megaman turned around to see Circusman calling attention to himself; the audience quieted down a bit. "You know me and Yuika never start a match without doing our good luck dance!"

Megaman blinked. "Good luck... dance?"

"Er... I don't have any notes about that from the Cyber City tournament..." The announcer flipped through some papers. "I suppose there's nothing in the rules against that..."

"Good!" Circusman stood up on the tiptoes of his tiny feet, as Megaman wondered how Circusman managed to support his massive frame. "This will only take a minute!"

The crowd watched, curious, as Circusman's round torso began to spin around. As it spun faster and faster, the red and white tent-like material he wore began to lift up, revealing a surprisingly skinny body connecting his head to his feet.

"What... weird..." Megaman kept watching, not noticing as the atmosphere of the Cyberworld began to darken. As Circusman spun faster, the air began to fill with a number of yellow, glowing particles. Everyone leaned in a little farther, curious to see what was going on, when some of the Navis in the stands began to collapse.

Megaman turned quickly to see what was going on, but suddenly cried out, feeling a massive wave of fatigue hit him, and he sank to one knee. "What's he... doing?" The other Navis screamed and tried to escape, but they, too, began to collapse one by one, feeling the energy drain out of them; some of them jacked out, while others erected barriers to try and protect themselves.

"Hee hee hee!" Circusman cackled as the glow in the air grew brighter, and the numerous particles in the air began flying toward him, collecting in the large vacuum in his torso. "This should be more than enough energy to awaken our two friends!"

"Stop right there!" Megaman turned toward Circusman, outstretching his buster arm and running, but he quickly slowed to a stop, almost all of his energy leaving him. He collapsed to the ground, as nearly the entire Navi crowd fell silent; only a lucky few, who had erected powerful barriers, remained standing. All of the glowing energy, taken from the Navis, collected under Circusman, who stopped spinning; his tent-like cover dropped down, holding the energy in the massive space in his stomach.

"Megaman?! Megaman!" Lan cried out into his PET's screen, as the crowd outside of the Cyberworld began to panic. Yuika laughed, jacking her Navi out, as the announcer turned to her; many of the Officials standing around the arena tensed and started moving in.

"Looks like our work here is done!" Yuika declared. "I'll be seeing you all at SciLab!" She quickly threw something down toward the ground, which exploded into a massive cloud of smoke; as the crowd yelped, the watching Officials moved in to seize her, but the smoke cleared to reveal that Yuika had vanished. Gritting his teeth, Lan turned his attention back toward Megaman, who had collapsed.

"Megaman!" Roll, who had remained standing, ran over toward the downed Navi and kneeled next to him, holding him up slightly. "Are you alright?"

"Unh... Roll..." Megaman looked up, his eyes half-focused.

"Megaman, hold on..." Roll coaxed, rather anxious and trying to think of a way to fix Megaman up quickly. As she fretted and held Megaman in her hands, both of the Navis started to glow pink, the same color as Roll. A second later, the glow faded, and Megaman's eyes suddenly opened wide, as he sat up.

"Whuh..." Megaman looked down at his hands and arms, feeling his energy return. "Roll... you healed me? I didn't know you could do that!"

"Are you kidding?" Roll looked down at herself, equally astonished. "_I_ didn't know I could do that!"

Megaman quickly hopped up. "Well, whatever happened, we've got to go after Circusman!" Roll nodded and quickly stood up after Megaman, but just as quickly faltered, falling forward, her energy drained.

"Roll!" Megaman caught her as she fell, her eyes glassy. She relaxed against him for a minute, as Megaman studied her. "Now I get it... you somehow transferred your energy to me..." He looked up, toward where he was sure Mayl was watching. "Mayl, jack Roll out! She needs to be restored!" An instant later, Roll vanished upward in a flash of light, as Megaman quickly followed suit.

Wasting no time, Lan turned on his heel and ran toward the door, only to collide headfirst with Chaud, who was running in the same direction from a different angle.

"Ow! Chaud?!"

Chaud quickly stood up. "Ugh, watch where you're going, would you?" He started running again, as Lan hopped up and followed suit.

"Chaud, where are you going?"

"I'm hopping the Metroline to SciLab, what do you think?" Chaud quickly hopped down the stairs, grinding along the handrail parkour style. "Come along if you want, but don't blame me if you get your Navi deleted." Lan nodded, following close behind.

* * *

"SciLab? She's coming here?" Yuichiro stared at the TV in the research room, trying to register what had just happened. "Impossible! That girl must be a Nebula agent! She's coming for the Cybeasts!"

"The Cybeasts?" Dr. Regal tuttered, watching from behind as one of his hands picked up a piece of metal piping. "That's no good..."

"Not at all," Yuichiro replied. "We've got to do something, and fast!"

"Oh, we'll do something alright." Dr. Regal lifted the pipe above his head and brought it down on Dr. Hikari, who quickly crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Regal grinned as he put the weapon aside. "I don't think it will be to your liking, though..."

Regal laughed as he walked calmly out of the room, leaving Lan's father lying on the floor.


	20. Chapter 6: Cybeasts

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 2: The Sun And The Moon_

* * *

Chapter 6: Cybeasts

Lan watched his PET carefully, hoping his phone call would go through, but found himself sent straight to voicemail again.

"Darn it!" Lan thrust the PET back into his belt holster, as the Metroline slowed to meet the SciLab stop. "Dad's still not answering!"

"Not a good sign," Chaud responded from one seat in front. "They may be blocking communications into that building somehow. And the only reason they'd do that is if they needed a lot of time in there."

"Chaud, the Cybeasts aren't in SciLab, are they?"

Chaud nodded. "They're being held in stasis in one of SciLab's servers. They're under heavy guard, and it would take a large amount of energy to revive them... but it seems neither of those things are going to be problems for Nebula."

The train stopped, and Chaud quickly leapt up. "Which means we've got to hurry if we're going to stop them." Lan leapt up after him, and both ran toward SciLab as quickly as they could.

* * *

Deep inside a SciLab server, a series of orange security Navis stood their ground, facing an oddly giddy Circusman with their swords drawn.

"Stand your ground, men!" one of them called out. "Don't let him get near the Cybeasts!"

"Hoo hoo hoo! You think you can stop me?" Circusman reached behind his back and produced a whip, which he quickly cracked against the ground; an instant later, six fire rings appeared in front of him, one for each defending Navi. As the security Navis steeled themselves, a computerized lion leapt out of each ring and onto the Navi in front of it. Their screams rent the air as Circusman watched, laughing as each Navi was quickly deleted in turn, completely unprepared.

Circusman stepped forward, walking up a small number of stairs, until he stood a few feet in front of two massive statues. One statue featured a massive wolf, not unlike the beast Gospel that was set upon the Net months prior; the other was a large, imposing falcon.

"The coast is clear, Yuika!" he called out.

From a room deep within the lowest basement in SciLab, Yuika Chirol watched her PET's screen with a grin on her face. "Well done, Circusman. Master Regal will be quite pleased."

"It sounds like things are going well." Yuika looked over toward the stairs, to see Dr. Regal walking down leisurely.

"Yes, Master." Yuika bowed lightly as Regal approached. "We've eliminated the security. We can start awakening the Cybeasts any moment."

"Excellent. Then let's not waste a moment's time." Regal adjusted his glasses. "Nebula's rise to power in Electopia begins now."

Yuika nodded, turning to her PET. "Circusman! Let's do it!"

"As you command, Yuika!" Circusman began spinning around once again, and its tent began to lift up once again, revealing the large, glowing mass of energy he held within. As he spun, the energy started to leave his body and surround the two massive beast statues. It layered them completely, eating away at the stone, and both statues began glowing, as Circusman, Yuika, and Regal watched.

"Excellent," Regal commented. "Now we should take our leave; the Officials will be arriving any minute. Leave Circusman to ensure the job gets done."

"Leave?" Yuika turned to Regal questioningly. "But the process isn't complete yet! Don't we need to be here to capture the Cybeasts?"

"That won't be necessary." Regal grinned evilly as he turned and walked away. "I've made sure the Cybeasts will be more than willing to listen to my commands."

Yuika was quite unsure, but nodded regardless. "Yes, Master." She followed quickly after him as the two evacuated SciLab in secrecy.

* * *

Chaud and Lan emerged from the subway and quickly turned toward SciLab, in order to see what Nebula had done to block it off.

"What?" Chaud turned and ran toward the building, with Lan following behind. "It doesn't look like Nebula's done anything. No one around is even on alert."

"But... why wasn't Dad answering?" Lan pondered to himself. "I'm worried... you go on ahead, I'm going to my dad's office."

Chaud nodded, as they ran in through the front doors, surprising a few people. "I'll try to head them off before they get to the Cybeasts." They parted ways at the stairs; while Chaud ran downstairs, to where the Cybeasts were being held, Lan headed up a floor to his father's office.

"Dad?" Lan looked around, surprised that his father was nowhere in sight. He could hear a television nearby; it was a news report, talking about continuing troubles at the Red Sun Tournament that was keeping the Officials occupied.

"Unh..." Lan started at the sound of his father's voice; looking around again, he noticed a pair of feet sticking out from behind one of the machines.

"Dad!" Lan ran over, to find his father lying on the floor, slowly regaining consciousness. "What happened?! Are you alright?!"

"Ugh... Lan..." Yuichiro slowly got to his knees, rubbing his head. "Regal... it's Regal... he's after the Cybeasts, I'm sure of it..."

"Regal?! He's with Nebula?"

Yuichiro got to his feet. "He cold-clocked me and headed downstairs... the Cybeasts are being held down there..."

"Chaud's already down there," Lan commented. "I can run downstairs and join him and Protoman if we need..."

"No, I've got a better idea." Dr. Hikari stepped over to one of the computer terminals, typing away quickly. "I can bypass some security here and connect you directly to the Cybeasts' server. With Megaman and Protoman together, we may have a chance at stopping Nebula before the beasts are awakened, but we have to move quick."

Lan nodded, pulling out his PET. "Are you ready, Megaman?"

Megaman nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be. Let's do this!"

"There." Yuichiro finished typing, as various system noises came out of the computer. "Quickly! Jack in!"

Lan did as he was told, sending Megaman into the Cyberworld.

* * *

Back in the Cyberworld, Protoman was squaring off against Circusman; while Protoman was far superior offensively, Circusman seemed to be an endless barrel of stamina, taunts, and annoying laughter. After a couple minutes of battling, Protoman had made no reasonable progress, as the Cybeast statues continued to glow threateningly.

"What's the matter, Mr. Official Navi?" Circusman taunted. "Not getting tired, are we?" Circusman cracked the ground with his whip, and four fire hoops appeared around Protoman. He turned around quickly to see them, but the lions appeared half a second later, giving Protoman almost no time to react.

With a flash, two laser blasts flew through the air, striking down two lions behind Protoman; moving quickly, Protoman wielded his Long Sword and took out the other two in front of him.

"You look like you could use some help!" Protoman and Circusman turned, to see Megaman, his buster out and ready for battle. Circusman frowned, not expecting to deal with two powerful Navis, when a loud crack rang out. Everyone quickly turned to the glowing statues, to see a massive crack on the muzzle of the wolf statue; an instant later, several more cracks formed, some on the wolf statue, some on the falcon.

"No...!" Protoman gritted his teeth, as Megaman started feeling a sick feeling in his stomach.

"Yes! It's done!" Circusman laughed to himself as large pieces of stone began to fall off both statues. "Come forth, Gregar and Falzar! Destroy these two!"

"Protoman! What do we do?" Megaman turned to Protoman, his feeling of unease beginning to spread almost unnaturally.

"I don't know..." Both Protoman and Megaman watched, horrorstruck, as the head of the wolf statue began to move a bit. It looked slightly to the left and right before letting out a massive roar, and the remaining stone was blasted away. Gregar, the wolf Cybeast, stood up and shook itself off, as next to it, the falcon Cybeast, Falzar, outstretched its wings and shrieked, separating itself from its constraints.

"This is bad," Protoman commented, as Megaman continued to feel sick. "This is very, very bad..."

"What do we do? Do we attack?" Megaman pondered, receiving a Long Sword from Lan.

"I don't see how we can win... but we've got no alternatives now." Protoman got into a fighter stance, as Circusman began issuing commands to the awakening Cybeasts.

"You are now under the control of Nebula! Destroy these two who want to oppose us!" he called out. In response, Falzar screeched and dashed forward, seizing Circusman in its powerful talons.

"Agh! No! What are you doing?!" Circusman cried out, as Falzar tossed the Navi into the air; the Cybeast pointed its wings at the falling red-and-white sphere, and a number of razor-sharp feathers flew out, piercing Circusman in every part of his body. Circusman fell heavily to the ground, completely defunct, before dissolving away into deletion.

"What power..." Protoman commented, as Megaman watched in amazement, his breathing heavy. "Well, here goes nothing... are you ready, Megaman?"

Megaman was far from ready; something was affecting him to his core, something he couldn't put his finger on.

"No... I'm... gah!"

Megaman fell to his knees, holding himself up with his arms and starting to glow red and black. As pain racked his body, he looked down at his hands, and saw a shadow of claws and wings; Protoman watched, cursing, as Megaman collapsed, his body seemingly transforming into a beast.

"Megaman!" Lan cried out from the real world, as he and his father watched on his PET. "What's happening?!"

"Dammit... I didn't foresee this..." Yuichiro commented. "This is one of the powers of the Cybeasts..."

Lan watched nervously, as Megaman desperately tried to keep control. Gregar slowly walked over toward Megaman, snarling, as Falzar advanced on Protoman, both Cybeasts ready to strike.

"Return to me, Cybeasts!" Dr. Regal's voice rang out through the Cyberworld, and both Cybeasts immediately snapped to attention. To Protoman's surprise, both Cybeasts immediately took off, heading in the same direction.

"What?!" Yuichiro looked into Lan's PET. "How is Regal controlling them?!" Grumbling to himself, Yuichiro moved away. "Lan, I've got to try and track those Cybeasts down in our servers. Be careful." Lan watched him disappear, then turned back to his PET. With the Cybeasts' presence gone, Megaman's eyes snapped open, as the transformation halted.

"What... happened?" Megaman quickly got to his feet, his nausea gone, as Protoman started running.

"The Cybeasts have taken off. I'm going to follow them, you should stay behind!"

"No way!" Megaman took off after Protoman. "I can't let you fight those things alone!"

"You're not prepared for them! You'll just Beast Out and get in the way!" Protoman retorted, not slowing down. Megaman started to reply, when a laser blast exploded near his feet; he turned quickly to see a group of about ten Nebula Navis nearby, moving backwards as they aimed at him.

"Nebula Navis?" Protoman wondered. "What are they doing here?"

"Grr... alright, you get the Cybeasts, I'll stop these guys!" Megaman stopped running after Protoman and turned toward the Nebula Navis, some of whom began to panic. They began firing their blasters toward Megaman, but his increased speed and his Long Sword allowed him to easily dodge the attacks. He fired his buster repeatedly, knocking down three very surprised Navis, as they started talking and running amongst themselves.

"What? He's not supposed to be that strong!" "Did we miscalculate or something?" "RUN AWAY!"

Megaman took off after them, running past the few Navis he downed; one of them grabbed at Megaman's ankle, but a quick flick of his Long Sword quickly removed the offending hand. Megaman continued chasing, as the group of Navis retreated and fired at him.

"This is odd; why aren't they jacking out?" Megaman wondered, as the Nebula Navis approached a random server building and busted in. Megaman followed as the Navis barricaded the entrance, then looked around.

"What the-?!" one of them wondered aloud. "What the hell happened?! Where's our base?!"

"Those bastards! They took off without us!" another wondered, looking deeper into the base. "Looks like they left something behind, though. We need to grab the baggage and get the hell outta Dodge." As a couple of Navis started moving into the back of the area, the front door was suddenly blasted open, and the Navis holding it shut were knocked back. Megaman ran in, as a Mega Cannon vanished from his arm, and the Navis scattered.

"No time! We gotta jack out now!"

"Wait!" Megaman called out, dashing toward one of the Navis, but he quickly disappeared in a flash of light, followed by the other Navis. Megaman cursed, looking around.

"Why did they run here... what is this place?" Megaman walked over to one of the walls, inspecting the floor and finding a number of cables and wires; from what he could tell, a multitude of mechanical devices had been connected in here, and it looked like they'd been forcibly torn out.

"What are you finding, Megaman?"

"Looks like they've robbed this server or something... I'm not sure." He came across a symbol crudely etched into the wall; a large "N" that seemed to be made of talons or something similar; he logged it into his memory, to ask Yuichiro about later. "It doesn't look like there's anything left, though... there's nothing here anymore."

"Alright, I'm jacking you out, Megaman. Maybe we can help Chaud with the Cybeasts or something..."

"Wait." Megaman stopped Lan, and fell silent. A few seconds later, he heard a sound, halfway between a cough and a sob. "There's someone here..."

He turned back inward, toward the back of the room, which had grown rather dark. Once it became too dark to see, Megaman touched his fingers to the yellow strips on his helmet, and they shone forward like a flashlight; a figure quickly came into view, taking Megaman by surprise.

"Gah! Who are you?" Megaman pointed his buster at the Navi on the floor; the person flinched in response.

"I'm sorry!" A female voice responded, as the Navi quickly curled up into a ball, her voice despondent. "Please don't... I'll be good... I'm so sorry..."

Megaman lowered his buster, taking a closer look at the lump of a Navi on the floor. Her frame was almost entirely white, with light blue stripes running down her side; her long, frail arms held herself as she looked down, her long, brown hair falling raggedly over her bloodshot eyes. Most disturbingly, her body was connected to a series of cables, all of which appeared to have been connected rather forcefully.

"I'm sorry... please don't hurt me... I'll be good I promise..."

Megaman kneeled down next to her, putting his buster away, as tears started to leak out of her eyes. Getting a closer look, Megaman saw that this girl was covered with an assortment of cuts, scars and bruises. Megaman's eyes widened; from what he could tell, Nebula had been abusing this poor girl to the point of learned helplessness. Why they needed her at all, though, he had no idea.

"I'm not here to hurt you..." Megaman offered, his voice gentle. "I'm with SciLab..."

"S... SciLab?" Her voice was a little less pained, though significantly less than hopeful.

"That's right... I can get you out of here, if you want..."

"No... no..." The girl shook her head. "I can't leave... they said they'd hurt me again if I tried to leave..."

Megaman stood up. "Don't worry... they're not going to hurt you again, I'll make sure of it." He stood up and looked at the cables. "What are these cables?"

"They tell me... what to do with those... they make me work for them..."

Megaman nodded, brandishing his Long Sword again, which made the girl flinch. "Well, these will have to go... I'm going to cut them, okay?"

She nodded, wanting to speak up but a little scared of Megaman still. Megaman walked around her, carefully slicing through every cable connected to her. The girl remained tense the entire time, her eyes on Megaman's sword, until the cables were all gone and he had put the sword away.

"Hey!" Megaman looked toward the door, as Iris shrunk down, and he saw a number of Nebula Navis had returned. "You get away from her! She's ours!"

"No chance!" Megaman fired his buster toward the door, causing the girl to shriek, and the Navis to scatter. Looking forward, he found nearly a dozen of them near the door, more than he was prepared to fight. Instead, he reached down and grasped the girl's hand.

"Lan! Jack us out, quick!"

"No!" The enemies ran forward, aiming to attack, but Megaman and the girl quickly disappeared in a flash of light, both of them headed for Lan's PET.

Back in Yuichiro's office, Lan pulled out his jack-in cable, looking into his PET. "Are you alright, Megaman?"

Megaman nodded. "I'm fine... and the girl's okay as well... comparatively, anyway."

Lan nodded, heading out of the office. "We need to talk to my dad. This is getting way too complicated for me."

* * *

"What?! Iris has escaped?!"

Regal's voice barked out through a large, mostly empty room; below the platform he stood on, several underlings winced.

"Yes, Master... Megaman found her after our SciLab base was evacuated, and took her..."

Regal glared down, incensed. "And why was she left behind?! She should have been the first to depart with the rest of the equipment!"

"Forgive us, Master Regal... we wanted to bring her last, to not interrupt her operations... but then Megaman arrived..."

Regal harumphed, turning away. "Well, whatever. We can proceed without her if we must, but this throws a monkey wrench into our plans. Our work at the Red Sun Tournament will continue, but if there comes an opportunity to recapture Iris, that takes priority. Understood?"

"Yes, Master."

Regal walked away, back into his office. _Figures this wouldn't go so easily... but at least the Cybeasts are under our control,_ he thought to himself. _With their help, the world should fall before too long, if we act in accordance with our strategy. Soon, I will take my place as ruler of this planet..._

He sat down in the chair behind his desk, smiling to himself.


	21. Chapter 7: The Red Sun

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 2: The Sun And The Moon_

* * *

Chapter 7: The Red Sun

"Ouch!" Yuichiro winced, as a medic tended to the injury on his head. "Be careful, would you?"

"I _am_ being careful," the medic grumbled, as he finished stitching up the laceration given by Dr. Regal. "You should be more careful about hitting your head."

"I'll keep that in mind," Yuichiro replied, annoyed; the medic headed off, as Chaud walked into Dr. Hikari's office.

"They're gone," he reported. "No signs of Chirol or Regal anywhere in SciLab."

"Great..." Yuichiro rubbed his forehead, frustrated. "I can't believe it... I never thought Lucius could do anything like this. We knew each other in college, for Pete's sake..."

"Guess you didn't know him as well as you thought," Lan offered.

"No, it's not even that simple," Yuichiro replied. "Dr. Regal... he was the person who initially helped seal the Cybeasts away. Why he would try to resurrect them now... it just escapes me completely."

Lan blinked, not sure how to reply, as Chaud continued.

"The server they were using has been completely cleaned out. As far as Protoman and I can tell, they were using devices to mask and redirect their operations, so it couldn't be traced back to SciLab."

"I can't believe this," Yuichiro responded, clenching his hand into a fist. "They did all of this right under our noses. It's so idiotic, and still it worked somehow, because we were just that naive..."

"And once they accomplish their goals, they just pick up and leave." Chaud leaned against the wall, his arms folded. "Meanwhile, we're all closely watching the Red Sun Tournament, and we don't suspect a thing. It's stupid, and it's brilliant."

"Well, at least they made one mistake." Yuichiro adjusted his glasses. "Iris should help us get some answers... in theory, anyway."

Lan reached for his PET, wanting to ask Megaman what he thought, before he remembered that Megaman wasn't there; he made a note to ask later. At that moment, Megaman was in one of the major SciLab computers, keeping Iris company. Being taken from the Nebula server and brought to SciLab proper had done little to pacify Iris's paranoia, and she had been extremely reluctant to cooperate; Megaman's presence seemed to calm her somewhat. She had offered up what she knew of the Cybeasts, but her fear of retribution caused her to keep Nebula's plans secret; after much finagling and persuasion, she had reluctantly agreed to let SciLab examine her.

"Dad," Lan prompted. "What exactly are the Cybeasts?"

"The Cybeasts are extremely powerful cyber beings, basically," Yuichiro explained. "They go about the Net causing wanton destruction; we thought they were uncontrollable, but somehow Regal's found a way to control them."

He stretched his arms. "Not only did they destroy plenty on their own, but to even be near them was risky. You saw it earlier today... any Navi that stayed near them for too long would Beast Out, transforming into a monster themselves and losing all control."

"But... Protoman was just fine," Lan added. "And Megaman was totally helpless..."

Chaud nodded. "We were ready for the Cybeasts. Protoman was outfitted with a certain protection that SciLab developed. Now that those creatures are on the loose, Megaman should probably receive it as well."

"He will, certainly," Yuichiro added. "Which doesn't mean you should be going after the Cybeasts; they're far too powerful for you to try and tackle on your own. Not even SciLab could destroy them back in the day, which is why we devised a plan to seal them away."

"Didn't SciLab create them, though?" Lan asked. "Why would you create something you couldn't destroy? Especially monsters like those?"

"What, you think SciLab is responsible for those things?" Yuichiro shook his head. "Not at all. The truth is, we don't know where the Cybeasts come from."

Lan blinked. "What?"

"The Cybeasts first appeared about 15 years ago, in End Net City, but no nation or radical group took ownership for them," Yuichiro continued. "The creatures didn't have any traceable signal, either, or anything like that. It's as if they came out of nowhere; we barely knew anything about them, and even now what we know is rather limited. Most of what we know came from something else that appeared right around the same time, a Navi named Colonel. He's a pretty mysterious individual himself, but without him, we'd never gotten as far as we did. We'll probably be hearing from him again soon..."

"Colonel, huh..." Lan reached for his PET for a second time, before stopping himself, remembering again where Megaman was. When his e-mail alert went off, though, he jumped a bit and grabbed his PET, taking a look.

"Let's see... oh, wow!" he exclaimed. "Looks like they're going to move on with the tournament after all!"

Chaud's eyebrows raised, before a beeping sound came from his PET as well; he pulled it out and took a look. "Huh, whaddya know..."

Yuichiro chuckled. "Well, good for them. It wouldn't look good if Electopia had to drop out, even if Nebula is involved somehow."

"It starts again in one hour," Lan recited. "We should probably get moving, to be safe..."

"Let me see Megaman before you go," Yuichiro interjected. "I can make sure the Cybeasts don't affect him."

"I'll catch up." Chaud stood up. "Business before pleasure and all that. You and Megaman go ahead." Lan nodded, looking around for the machine that was housing Megaman and jacking in.

Inside the SciLab Cyberworld, Megaman and Iris both looked up as Lan's face appeared.

"Megaman! The tournament's still going on! We need to get back to DenDome!"

"Wow, really? Alright, let's go!" He started to leave, when he heard a whimper from behind; he turned around and saw Iris looking down, rather dejected.

"Er..." he started.

"No, it's okay..." Iris shook her head. "You shouldn't have to worry about me..." She looked away, fearfully looking at some of the machines that were now examining her.

"Iris..." Megaman walked back toward her. "Don't worry, okay? No one here is going to hurt you, I promise. I'll come back after the tournament to make sure."

Iris looked up a bit, to meet Megaman's eyes, and nodded after a minute. "Alright... I... I trust you."

Megaman smiled. "Alright. I'll see you later, okay?"

Iris nodded again. "Good luck..."

Megaman nodded, right before jacking out; Iris continued to hold herself, praying Megaman wouldn't renege on his promise.

* * *

One hour later, Lan and Chaud found themselves back at DenDome, along with five other competitors and a slightly less packed crowd. The stage had been slightly rearranged; instead of two competitors standing on either side of the Cyber arena, all seven were in a circle around a much larger one. They were all focusing on the match, having been briefed beforehand, while the rest of the audience muttered in confusion, not sure what was going on. After a minute, the announcer came onstage, and was met with mild applause.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the International Netbattle Coalition thanks you greatly for your patience in the face of what has happened here today. Despite the disturbances that have occurred today, it has been decided that the Red Sun Tournament will continue until our two champions are found!"

The crowd, easy to please as always, cheered again, as the announcer continued. "Unfortunately, most of our competitors' Navis have become incapable of continuing, having been damaged rather severely by Circusman's antics. As you can see here, seven of our hopefuls remain, and the INC has decided that instead of continuing with the elimination brackets, the remaining contestants will face off in a battle royale! The two Navis that remain standing will go on to the world championship in Creamland!"

Lan grinned at the prospect of traveling to fight the greatest Netbattlers in the world, as the crowd made more noise in support of their nation; the announcer cleared his throat.

"So without further ado, allow me to introduce the prospective champions!" He turned to face the arena; besides Lan and Chaud, there stood a hooded boy with red hair and face paint, an effeminate-looking pink-haired man, a young woman, a young man, and an elderly male.

"You've already met Lan, the sixth-grader from Den City. Also from Den City is Eugene Chaud, operating the blade-wielding Protoman! Going around clockwise, we continue with Dingo and his Navi, Tomahawkman! Viddy Narcy, operating, er... his... Navi, Videoman! Lilly, with her cyber mistress of the winds, Gale! Joumon of Joumon Electric, operating the electric powerhouse Sparkman! And last but not least, Tensuke, with his geriatric Navi, Topman!"

"Watch your tongue, you whippersnapper!" Tensuke snapped, taking the announcer aback for a moment.

"Er, yes... anyhow, besides the number of competitors, the rules remain the same as before! Who will emerge victorious and take the national title? Let's find out, right now! Are the competitors ready?"

The circle nodded almost as one. "Alright then! Everyone, please jack in your Navis!" Lan pulled out his PET cord, along with everyone else, and sent Megaman into the Cyberworld. Upon his arrival, Megaman took a look around the arena; the Navi stands had been removed, and the only beings present were the seven battlers. Megaman recognized Protoman right away. He also saw a large, yellow-and-black Navi with pointed, sparking appendages; a very old-looking Navi with a cane, whose head was comprised of several large, concentric discs; a shorter, blue, female Navi with strips of blue cloth streaming from her shoulders, elbows and knees; a taller, male Navi holding a tomahawk and wearing a feather headdress; and a green Navi, wielding long strips of black tape and wearing odd goggles.

"All the Navis have entered the Cyberworld! Let the battle begin!"

* * *

Lan instantly sent Megaman a Wide Sword and a Vulcan Cannon, as the Navis around him instantly started moving. He dashed toward Sparkman, hoping to take him by surprise, but Sparkman quickly turned toward him. Megaman's sword met Sparkman's arm; Megaman yelped as a mild shock traveled through him, and he backed off quickly. He barely had time to curse before something wound around his body, rendering him immobile; he looked down to find himself bound by black videotape.

"Gah! This is crazy!" Megaman turned to see Videoman grinning and charging a blast, while Megaman sawed away at the tape with his sword; he rid himself of his constraints just in time to dodge the blast. Megaman ran forward, swiping at Videoman's legs, as Videoman jumped up into the air, flipping above Megaman. Videoman threw out another string of tape, hoping to bind, Megaman, but Megaman reacted quickly and caught it in his hands. Grunting, he started spinning the tape, and Videoman, above his head, letting him go in Sparkman's direction. Moving on reflex, Sparkman stuck out one of his pointed arms, spearing Videoman on the end and electrocuting him; his operator quickly jacked him out.

"Videoman has jacked out, overwhelmed by Megaman and Sparkman's attacks! That's one Navi down!" the announcer cried out. "But wait! It seems that Topman has just been dispatched by Gale and Protoman! It looks like our competitors are inadvertently cooperating to take down their opponents!"

The audience watched intently, not wanting to miss a moment, as Lan grinned; he kept a Barrier at the ready, just in case, as Megaman turned his attention toward Sparkman, firing his Vulcan Cannon as he ran forward. Sparkman held his ground, generating an electric shield to deflect the bullets, which went every which way about the arena. He started focusing intently, his body glowing a light yellow, as he charged up an electric attack.

In another part of the arena, Tomahawkman was taking on both Gale and Protoman, hurling tomahawks as fast as he could generate them. Protoman deflected most of them with his Long Sword, while Gale was able to effectively dodge, using a combination of quick movement and slight changes in the wind. After a minute, she changed tack, creating a small whirlwind in front of her, which caught five tomahawks in its twirling body; two seconds later, she snapped her fingers, and the whirlwind exploded, sending tomahawks flying all over the ring. Protoman, Tomahawkman, and Megaman all managed to dodge, but Sparkman, oblivious and charging up, had one buried deep in his head. His eyes went wide, and he fell to the ground before quickly being jacked out by Joumon.

"And now Sparkman is out of commission! What a match! Our seven Netbattlers have quickly been whittled down to four!" The announcer was leaning in close, trying to catch all the action. "Which of the remaining-"

He was interrupted by a loud sound from above that made him jump; looking upward, everyone found that one of the lights on the ceiling had spontaneously burst, and was smoking lightly. A second later, several other lights burst in succession, sending particles of glass raining into the crowd, who began to scream in fright.

"What's going on?!" Lan shielded himself with his arm. "Is this Nebula doing something or what?"

As if on cue, a massive roar sounded through the Cyberworld. Megaman and Protoman looked around, trying to find the source of the roar, but there was nothing to be found. Their attention was quickly diverted, however, when Tomahawkman and Gale collapsed to the ground, holding their heads and crying out in pain. As Megaman watched, he suddenly felt a surge of pain flow through himself as well, and he fell to his knees; a second later, a small, black device attached to his hip lit up, and the pain subsided. Megaman stood up again, knowing now precisely what the problem was.

"It's the Cybeasts! They must be nearby!" Protoman called out, running toward Gale. "Quickly, we have to delete them before they Beast Out!"

Megaman nodded, running toward Tomahawkman, as both Dingo and Lilly tried to jack their Navis out, to no avail. He raised his sword, ready to strike, when Tomahawkman cried out and lunged toward Megaman, swiping with claws that were forming on his hands; Megaman barely managed to dodge. He watched in horror as Tomahawkman transformed; his body had grown a purplish-brown fur, and his hands had grown long, pointed claws. While his head didn't change shape, his eyes were glowing a bright yellow, and he snarled viciously, out of control.

"Crap... this is bad..." Megaman looked over to Protoman for assistance, but Protoman had his hands equally full; Gale had Beasted Out as well, and had grown red feathers and wings under Falzar's influence.

"Well!" the announcer interjected. "Gale and Tomahawkman have undergone a very strange transformation! I wonder how their operators will use this to their advantage?"

"Are you nuts?!" Dingo snapped. "Does it look like we planned this out?! I can't even control him!"

"Er... I see..." the announcer faltered.

Back in the Cyberworld, Megaman was barely holding his own against the Gregar-influenced Tomahawkman; his speed and strength had been significantly magnified, and it was all Megaman could do to block the claws with his Wide Sword. Whenever he had a free instant, Megaman fired his Mega Buster; though not a single shot missed, none of them so much as fazed Tomahawkman.

"Ugh... I can't get any good shots in on him! He's too strong, too relentless..."

Lan pulled out an Area Steal chip. "Maybe we can buy you a minute with this!"

As Tomahawkman charged Megaman again, Megaman vanished, appearing behind his adversary and swinging his sword fiercely. To Megaman's amazement, the sword shattered against his opponent's back; Tomahawkman growled and turned around.

"No... no way..." Megaman backed off, his sword reverting to his hand. "He's that strong?!"

With a powerful roar, Tomahawkman charged again, catching Megaman off guard; he shoulderchecked his enemy, sending Megaman flying backward and landing on his back. He sat up quickly as Tomahawkman jumped toward him, paws outstretched; Megaman reached out with his arms, and the two clasped hands, engaging in an impromptu strength contest. Megaman grunted and strained, trying to force Tomahawkman away, but Tomahawkman's immense strength was slowly forcing Megaman back down.

"Lan... it's no good... he's too strong..."

"Don't give up, Megaman!" Lan encouraged. "We'll figure something out!"

"Well, we better figure it out quick," Megaman replied, as Tomahawkman continued to bear down. Megaman watched as Tomahawkman's face finally transfigured itself, growing long and forming a wolflike snout. He opened his mouth wide, and a massive plume of fire issued forth, covering Megaman completely.

"No!" Lan cried out as he watched, horrified. The audience watched as well, holding their breath, and even the announcer was silent for a moment. As Tomahawkman continued breathing fire onto Megaman, to everyone's amazement, he found himself being forced backward; from what was visible, Megaman was slowly getting to his feet. In surprise, Tomahawkman ceased blowing flame, and Lan's eyes widened as Megaman became visible once again.

Megaman had undergone a mysterious transformation of his own; instead of his normal blue color, his body was colored red-orange from head to toe. His muscles had grown significantly, increasing his strength, and there was armor on every part of his body, as opposed to just his hands and feet. His buster had transformed completely, changing from a simple gun to some sort of cannon, with what appeared to be fuel lines running across it.

"What in the world..." Lan muttered, awestruck.

"Yes!" Back at SciLab, Yuichiro Hikari had cried out triumphantly, thrusting his fists into the air and causing a nearby aide to jump in surprise, as he watched the action unfold on the television. "I am a _genius!_"

With an almighty yell, Megaman lifted Tomahawkman above his head and threw him across the arena, where he landed hard. Megaman looked down at himself, surprised by his strength, and jumped upon seeing what had happened.

"This is incredible! Megaman seems to have transformed as well!" the dutiful announcer related to the crowd. "I've never seen a match like this in all my life!"

"Megaman!" Lan called out. "Here's our chance! Take out Tomahawkman!"

Snapping out of his reverie, Megaman nodded and dashed forward; nothing much had happened for his speed, but he could feel an incredible strength running through his body. Tomahawkman stood up, growling, and turned back toward Megaman, his claws extended. They dashed at each other, and Tomahawkman swiped with his claws as Megaman blocked with his arm; this time, it was Tomahawkman's weapon that shattered as it collided with the force of Megaman's blow. Megaman followed up with a powerful punch, knocking his enemy down; as Tomahawkman sat up, he had only one second to watch Megaman come down on top of him, piercing his body with the newly received Long Sword.

The crowd gasped as one, as Tomahawkman fell backward and was deleted, his body disappearing into the Cyberworld. Lan grinned, highly pleased with Megaman's new strength, as Megaman turned himself toward the remaining two Navis. Protoman was still grappling with the Falzar-influenced Gale; her powerful wings were only adding to her wind abilities, and Megaman watched as she fired a series of razor-sharp feathers toward Protoman.

"Agh!" Protoman fell backward, several feathers sticking out of his body, as Gale moved in for the kill.

"No!" Megaman ran forward, charging up his buster and firing it in Gale's direction as soon as he got close enough. Both he and Lan were surprised to see a massive plume of flame issue forth from the cannon, one that engulfed Gale completely. She started running in a small circle, shrieking loudly as the flames burnt away at her feathers; her pain didn't last long, however, before Protoman bisected her cleanly with his Long Blade. Her two halves fell to the ground before dissolving away.

Megaman relaxed himself, with the two dangerous Navis eliminated. "You alright, Protoman?"

"I'll be fine," Protoman replied, looking over at Megaman. "What the hell happened to you?"

Megaman looked down at his hands again. "Er... I'm not really sure, to be honest..."

"Amazing! Megaman's transformation has completely overpowered the other two transformed Navis! We have our champions!" The crowd cheered raucously, equally amazed at what had just taken place, as the announcer continued. "Lan Hikari and Eugene Chaud will represent Electopia at the world championships in Creamland! Let's give them a big hand, folks!"

Lan grinned, looking around at the cheering crowd, before his eyes came to rest on Lilly, who was looking rather upset.

"Lilly... I'm sorry about Gale... we had to..."

"No, it's alright." Lilly smiled a bit. "You did what you had to... who knows what she would have done with strength like that." She tapped her PET. "Plus, I backed her up right before the match. We'll be battling again in no time."

Lan grinned. "Glad to hear it. We'll have to battle again someday!"

He felt a hand clap on his shoulder, and turned around to see Dingo smirking at him. "Don't forget you need to battle us, too. That was one hell of a match, wasn't it?"

"The finalists from all over the world will be departing for Creamland one week from tomorrow," the announcer continued. "They'll receive e-mail alerts with more information the day before, so keep your eyes on your PETs, you two! And of course, we'll be holding an award ceremony tomorrow at City Hall, where the winners will be presented with their prizes!"

As the announcer thanked the crowd for attending, Lan jacked out and turned to the doors, as Chaud passed him by.

"Looks like I'll be seeing you in Creamland after all, Chaud."

Chaud smirked. "You're just lucky the two of us didn't have to fight. It'll be a different story at the world championships, trust me. Now if you'll excuse me, Protoman and I need to check out the Cyberworld, to see if the Cybeasts left any clues behind." He headed out the doors, heading off on his own. Lan turned to his PET.

"How're you holding up, Megaman?"

"I'm just fine," Megaman responded. "Feel strange, though... still wondering what the heck's happened to me."

"Me too." Lan walked through the doors to the competitor's lounge, on his way out. "I'm going to head to SciLab and ask Dad, I bet this has something to do with that upgrade he gave you."

Megaman nodded. "That makes sense. Alright, let's go!"

Lan nodded and started running, rather eager to hear about what the deal was. As he stepped into the DenDome main lobby, however, he was suddenly assaulted by a pair of arms and a mess of red hair.

"Lan, that was amazing!" Mayl declared, hugging him tight. "Congratulations!"

"That was the best Netbattle I've ever seen!" Dex said as he appeared, clapping Lan on the shoulder as Mayl let him go.

"Thanks, guys. I'm glad you all were here to watch."

"What happened at the end, anyway?" Yai's voice piped up, as she stepped forward. "It was like Megaman was a whole new Navi!"

"I have no idea, I was going to ask my Dad at SciLab," Lan responded.

"Let's all go! Now I'm all curious." Yai started walking off, and the group followed.

"Wow... you're going to be in Creamland in just one week," Mayl wondered. "That's amazing. What do you think you're going to do before then?"

Lan grinned. "I'm going to enjoy being the best Netbattler in Electopia, what else?"

Dex laughed. "Good answer!" Everyone joined in the laughter, as they made their way to the Metroline.


	22. Chapter 8: Intermission The Second

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 2: The Sun And The Moon_

* * *

Chapter 8: Intermission The Second

"Well, we better figure it out quick."

Megaman stared into the face of Tomahawkman as they grappled in a battle of strength; an instant later, Tomahawkman's face transformed into that of a wolf, and he breathed fire all over Megaman, engulfing him, as the crowd gasped.

"See, right here I really thought Megaman was done for," Yai commentated from the couch.

Lan, sitting nearby, turned his eyes to the floor, his face red from embarrassment. "I can't believe you taped this..."

Yai laughed. "Of course I did! Why wouldn't I?" She, Lan, Mayl, Dex, and the rest of their homeroom class was watching a recording of the battle royale match of the Red Sun Tournament, with great interest, in the entertainment center in the Ayanokouji mansion. It was the weekend after the tournament, as well as Mayl's 12th birthday, and the gang had elected to celebrate both Mayl's birthday and Lan's victory in a single large event at Yai's place. For the sake of a few who had missed the match, they were rewatching it on Yai's rather large television; Lan, Mayl, Dex and Yai sat on the nearby couch, with Lan's overlarge trophy residing in the corner.

"Oh, this is the best part!" Dex declared, as everyone watched Megaman stand up, resisting Tomahawkman's strength, and the results of his fire-based transformation became visible. Everybody ooh'd and aah'd at this turn of events.

"What happened there, Lan? What did Megaman do?" a classmate asked.

"I didn't know at the time, so I went to SciLab and asked my dad," Lan replied, looking at his PET. "He called it..."

* * *

"...a Style Change. This is what I was working on for Megaman's upgrade."

The week prior, after the match, Lan and his friends had gone to SciLab, wondering themselves what had happened. Megaman was watching from a nearby system and keeping his promise to Iris, who had seemed rather pleased that Megaman had returned; it was hard to tell, though, as she still spoke softly and never smiled. Megaman had returned to his normal self, after Dr. Hikari did a little bit of tinkering with Lan's PET.

"A Style Change? What's that?"

Yuichiro rifled through some papers of his, eventually coming across a certain document with lots of technical words and drawings of Megaman. "It's a new ability of his, that allows him to change form. Depending on the situation, he could grow stronger, faster, what have you; in addition to that, there may be additional changes, like elemental powers."

He turned on a screen, and an image of Megaman appeared, in the new red-orange appearance he took on at the tournament; his friends and he studied it closely. "Megaman currently has HeatGuts style; it charges his attacks with fire, and increases his strength significantly. You can imagine how it came about; during the match, Megaman needed to be stronger, and he needed to be able to withstand fire, so HeatGuts it was."

"Wait, you mean he can automatically get upgraded with what he needs, on the fly?" Lan's eyes boggled at the thought.

"Well, sort of," Yuichiro offered. "Each style benefits only one facet of Megaman, such as his speed or his strength, and you can't change between them very easily. Not only that, but you can only store up to four styles in your PET."

"I see..." Lan grinned. "Still, that's pretty awesome. Now I can make Megaman stronger when I need to, right? I can just turn on HeatGuts style if I need to?"

His father nodded. "You need to be careful, though. If Megaman were in HeatGuts style, and he was hit with a water or ice attack, he'd receive twice as much damage as normal. It's not without its share of problems, either, so use it with care."

"HeatGuts style..." Dex pondered. "Is that supposed to be 'Guts' like Gutsman, Mr. Hikari?"

Yuichiro shrugged and smiled. "I may have had some influence from a few places."

Dex laughed. "Yeeha! Hear that, Lan? My Gutsman is still the strongest Navi there is, if your dad's using it!"

Yai laughed as well. "What are you talking about, Dex? Protoman kicked your butt into next week!"

The two started bickering as usual, and everyone in the room laughed. Megaman smiled, as he watched from inside the SciLab computer, Iris sitting beside him.

"It must be nice... to have friends like that..." Iris spoke softly.

"Iris... did you have any friends before Nebula found you?" Megaman asked; Iris looked down.

"I don't know..." she replied. "I don't know what having a friend is supposed to be like. I didn't know many people back then..."

"Maybe you could make some new friends now," Megaman offered.

Iris looked up, watching Lan and his friends enjoy themselves. "Maybe..."

* * *

"A Style Change, huh? Never heard of anything like that!"

Lan stretched on the couch. "Well, my dad said it's new technology. Not many Navis could use it even if they had it programmed into them."

"Megaman could, though!" called out another classmate. "Megaman can do anything!" The room cheered, and Lan looked down again, before he became aware of the e-mail alert beeping from his PET. He took a quick look.

"Hey, it's from the INC!" he said aloud; everyone instantly quieted down, E. F. Hutton-style, and turned toward Lan.

"What's it say?!" Mayl wondered, leaning into Lan's shoulder so she could read his PET.

"Hold on, hold on!" Lan called out; he tried to shove Mayl away, to no avail, before he began to read.

"'Dear Lan, congratulations again on your victory in Electopia's Red Sun Tournament! As we have said before, your flight will be departing at 6:00 am tomorrow from Den International Airport; enclosed are your first-class tickets for your flight.'"

"First class!" Dex exclaimed. "I've never even been in business class before!" Lan grinned and continued.

"'Your first day in Creamland will be yours, to do with as you please. The next day, the finalists will be taken on a tour of Creamland's royal and historic landmarks, including a meeting with Her Highness, Princess Pride.'"

"Princess Pride?!" someone else exclaimed. "That's not fair! You get to meet a princess?!"

Yai stuck out her tongue. "You already know a princess, me!" Mayl and Dex laughed, as Lan read on.

"'The final round of the Red Sun/Blue Moon Tournament will take place on the following day; the competitors from each half will battle it out until the winners are found, and the final round, between the winners of the Red Sun and Blue Moon tournaments, will be broadcast live on international television. Best of luck, and thank you once again for your participation!'"

The room broke into loud discussion, with various people talking about how lucky Lan was, or asking him to bring back Princess Pride's autograph, and other random things.

"Wait, did they say 6:00 am?" Yai wondered aloud, trying to grab at Lan's PET so she could read the e-mail.

"Yes! Stop grabbing!" Lan responded, holding his PET above his head.

"But the airport is almost an hour and a half away! And don't you have to get there an hour before your flight?"

"Shoot... you're right." Lan groaned. "That means I'm going to have to leave at three in the morning or something like that..."

"That's only eight hours from now!" Dex declared, looking at the clock in his PET. "That's nothing!"

"Well, we're just going to have to get to partying right away, won't we?" Mayl grinned and reached across Lan's lap, trying to get her hands on the trophy. "Come on, I wanted some pictures with this thing, remember?"

"Hey! Be careful!" Lan tried to grab the trophy as well, with slightly more care, as Mayl laughed. The party continued on in this vein, with plenty of laughing and roughhousing, as well as a significant amount of birthday cake, late into the night.

* * *

Eight hours later, the partying had wound down considerably, and children were sleeping on the floor and on furniture across several different rooms. The house had become rather trashed, with bits of streamers and silly string decorating a number of surfaces; nothing was broken, as most of the valuables had been evacuated from the area well before the party started. Lan's overlarge trophy remained untouched in a corner of the room; the children had treated it with the utmost reverence, as some could still barely believe that one of the country's best Netbattlers was in their midst.

Lan had fallen asleep upside-down on one of the couches two hours prior, exhausted; while he had originally anticipated to get more sleep, he had been convinced by his classmates that he could sleep on the plane, as well as on the bus that would take him to the airport. He snored lightly as he slept, and as such it took Megaman a bit of work to get him to wake up on time.

"Lan, get up! You're going to miss your bus!" Lan shook himself awake, looking around at the mess the room had become as he lay upside-down, friends sleeping everywhere and pizza lying about.

"Ugh... this is probably what being a college student is like." He sat up slowly, rubbing his eye and standing up, and he realized he had fallen asleep in his clothes. He headed into another room, to get the suitcase he had put aside, and he tossed some silly string off of it.

"The bus is supposed to be waiting, right?" Lan confirmed; Megaman nodded.

"You called the bus company hours ago, remember? They should be outside right now."

"Well, we better not keep it waiting." Lan headed toward the entrance, stepping over food and bodies and tripping over Dex before he made it to the front door and stepped outside into the night. Megaman was correct; a travel bus was waiting right outside, at the end of the driveway, and Lan started sleepily walking toward the door.

"Wait up!" Lan turned around to see Mayl waving at him, running over and wearing a red jacket; like Lan, she looked exhausted, but was cheerful nevertheless.

"Mayl? What the heck are you doing here?" Lan wondered, as Mayl ran up to him.

"Don't be rude! I'm coming with you so I can see you off at the airport! No one else is coming, after all."

"But... how are you going to get back here?" Lan wondered.

"I'm going to take the bus back, of course," Mayl replied. "Yai said her family would pay for it and not to worry about it, so there."

Lan started to reply, but yawned instead. "Alright, alright... come on, let's go." Mayl smiled as the pair walked through the door and onto the bus, taking the first vacant seat; Lan put his bag aside and sat down, resting his head against the window as the bus started to pull away, heading back down Yai's driveway.

"Looks like it'll be a long, boring ride through Den City," Lan muttered. "A boring bus ride before a boring plane ride."

Mayl yawned, leaning back. "Well, at least you'll be able to get some sleep." Her head tilted off to the side. "Sleep sure sounds nice right now..."

Lan smirked as the bus left the driveway and got onto a nearby road; by the time the bus had reached its first stop, both Lan and Mayl had gone right back to sleep.

* * *

Lan was awoken 45 minutes later, as the bus hit a bump in the road, causing him to smack his head against the window.

"Ow..." Lan rubbed his head, looking around; the bus was still driving through downtown Den City, and the airport was nowhere in sight. He sighed and stared out the window, before becoming aware of a weight resting on him. Looking over, he found that Mayl was resting half-on his lap, half-off; her arms hung loosely around his neck, and her head was resting against the front of his shoulder as she slept.

Lan smiled and rubbed her head lightly. Such displays of affection were not uncommon between the two of them; while there were no romantic intentions in either direction, they were much closer than two friends would normally be, having known each other essentially their entire lives. They were often seen together, alone or with other friends, physical contact was not taboo, and there was almost nothing the two of them couldn't discuss together; while they almost never spoke of their bond, they cared for each other greatly, and were well aware of it. Though they certainly weren't in love, they loved each other nonetheless.

As Lan rubbed Mayl's head comfortingly, he became aware once again of the difference in their skin tones, seeing his hand next to her face. Though it was hard to tell without close inspection, Mayl was a couple shades lighter than most people she knew; while Lan and Yai were both 100% Electopian, and Dex's parents both were born in Netopia, Mayl's father was a traveling businessman who hailed from Ameroupe, and Mayl was fluent in Ameroupic as well as Electopian. In fact, Lan was one of a handful of people who knew Mayl's birthname, Maylumei Sakurai-Vinejkic, a mix of Ameroupic and Electopian; she generally declined to use her full name for a number of reasons. She had dropped the "Vinejkic" part of her name several years back for all practical purposes, since nobody she knew could pronounce it to save their lives. "Mayl" was a nickname created by Lan in their infancy, and she had stuck by it not just because she liked it, but because "Maylumei Sakurai" rhymed, and she got rather annoyed whenever someone reminded her of this fact.

Lan grinned to himself, remembering one instance where he had teased Mayl about it until she began chasing him around the room, wielding a toy robot as a weapon; as he brushed back some of her hair, though, his smile faded as he saw something rather unpleasant. On the side of her forehead, above her right eye, was a large, barely visible scar. Lan's mind instantly flashed back to three months ago, where he found himself holding Mayl's limp form in the wreckage of a destroyed cable car, as blood flowed from a large cut in her forehead.

Lan looked down toward his PET, where Megaman was resting himself, recharging. Mere seconds before Gospel had attacked their cable car, Lan was wondering to himself why he had been given Megaman; was he really supposed to just leave justice to the authorities, instead of taking matters into his own hands? As he rode to the world Netbattle championships, his best friend in the world sleeping by his side, he knew the answer to his question. He was going to use Megaman to save the day and protect the ones he cared about, no matter what Chaud, his father, or any other authority figure tried to tell him otherwise.

Lan rested his head back against the window and went back to sleep, knowing he still had a long ride ahead.

* * *

"Den International Airport!" the bus driver called out another 45 minutes later. Lan stirred and blinked, sitting up, as other riders started sleepily getting to their feet and grabbing their bags. Looking over, Lan saw that Mayl was still right where he had left her. He shook her lightly.

"Hey, Mayl, we're here." She blinked and yawned, looking around, then down at the position she was in.

"Oh, sorry..." She hopped off of his lap. "Must have shifted in my sleep or something..."

"What?" Lan wondered, standing up and grabbing his bag. "You mean you did that while you were sleeping?"

Mayl grinned. "I can't help it. You're like a big old teddy bear when you're asleep."

The two got themselves off the bus and headed into the departures lobby of the airport, where Lan got himself checked in, handing over his suitcase to the airline personnel. They quickly found his gate, and after a few minutes of walking, they came across a sign in their path: SECURITY CHECKPOINT. NO ENTRY WITHOUT TICKETS AND IDENTIFICATION.

"Looks like this is it," Lan muttered, starting to walk forward and checking to ensure his PET was still with him, which it was.

"Lan, wait." Lan turned around to face Mayl, who had adopted a rather worried look. "I just... I've got a really bad feeling, that something's going to happen while you're away... and we're all going to be here, where we can't help you."

She reached into her coat pocket. "So... I got you this..." She pulled out a medium-sized pewter pendant, carved into the shape of a diamond and painted sky blue, and handed it to Lan.

"What is it?" Lan inquired, taking a closer look.

"It's supposed to be for good luck," Mayl answered. "I got it yesterday, before the party started."

Lan grinned. "You were buying me stuff on YOUR birthday?"

Mayl smiled. "Well, I'd rather see you stay safe than have you get me some gift or other."

Lan nodded, dropping the pendant into his vest pocket. "Alright, I'll keep it on me. It'll probably come in handy." The two shared a friendly embrace, and Mayl kissed his cheek.

"Good luck, Lan," she offered. "Come back safe, okay?"

Lan grinned and nodded. "Don't worry, I plan to. Make sure everyone cheers for me back home!"

Mayl smiled and nodded back.


	23. Chapter 9: In Flight Entertainment

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 2: The Sun And The Moon_

* * *

Chapter 9: In-Flight Entertainment

Lan finally made his way to his departure gate, after slowly making his way through a rigorous security check; a random boy traveling alone to another country rose a couple of red flags, especially when he had first-class tickets. After a bit of investigating, and an early-morning call to a rather agitated Dr. Hikari, they were finally convinced he was not a threat, and he was even allowed to keep his PET.

He sat down in the first seat he saw, setting his bag next to him, and checked the time on his PET; his flight was supposed to leave in fifteen minutes. Looking around, he saw a fair amount of other travelers; some were foreign, some were Electopian, some were business, some were families, and everyone was tired. As he sat back, he caught a familiar face out of the corner of his eye; Chaud was walking away from a coffee stand and back toward the gate, sipping at a hot beverage.

Lan smirked as Chaud walked by. "You're a bit young to be drinking coffee, aren't you?"

"I don't sleep well," he replied simply, sitting across the way.

Lan rubbed his eye. "Why don't you just try sleeping on the flight?"

"I'm the ONB. I can't just fall asleep, I need to stay alert." Chaud took another sip. "Besides, it doesn't look like we can rely on you to stay awake. You were probably up partying all night, weren't you?"

"I was not!" Lan lied, getting indignant; Chaud smirked in response.

"Whatever. Have yourself a nice nap if you want, but I'm going to have to keep awake. Besides, we're losing hours since we're traveling east, so you're going to be up all night again. Good luck battling when you're jetlagged like that."

"Er..." Lan hadn't thought of that.

"Attention everybody; we will now begin pre-boarding our flight. Would our first-class passengers please line up to board." A female voice rang out over the intercom, and several people stood up and moved toward the gate, including Chaud. Yawning, Lan stood up and grabbed his bag, moving toward the plane with everyone else.

* * *

Three hours later, the flight had taken off and was moving smoothly through the air toward Creamland. Chaud sat at the front of the first class section, toying with his PET while keeping his eye out for trouble; a few rows back, Lan was snoozing, head tilted and mouth open. He had bought some gum to chew during takeoff, and during his nap, it had rolled out of his mouth and into his hair. Behind him, somebody's watch alarm went off, and he started awake, blinking and still rather tired.

He rubbed his eye and looked out through the window; they were flying over a large patch of farmland. It didn't look like they were in Creamland yet, but then again, he didn't know what Creamland was supposed to look like. He had done a little bit of research a couple days ago; Creamland was a comparatively small country immediately to Electopia's east, and a fraction of its size. It was a minor world power that boasted an economy based mainly on Net development and commerce, and was too small to even have its own army. It had formed a pact with Electopia, wherein Electopia would come to Creamland's defense if necessary, in exchange for access to Creamland's Net research and technology. Its government was a constitutional monarchy, presided over by Princess Angelica Pride; she had been forced to take the throne a year ago at age 12, when a smallpox epidemic took the lives of her parents along with a small portion of the population, but she governed well, aided by the parliament and a group of close advisors.

Lan yawned, looking away from the window. "Ugh... what time is it..." He reached for his PET and looked into it. "Megaman, time?"

"It's nine... fifteen..." Megaman snickered. "Lan, were you chewing gum earlier?"

"What? Yea... why do you..." Lan's hand went to his hair, feeling the wad of gum. "Oh, for Pete's sake..."

Megaman laughed. "You should maybe do something about that before you meet the Princess, huh?"

"Yea, yea... hold on, I'll just use the bathroom here on the plane..." Lan stood up, walking down the aisle toward the end of the plane and entering the bathroom, shutting the door. He inspected the wad of gum and sighed, wondering how he was going to get it out.

Back near the front of the plane, Chaud became aware of some people whispering nearby. Looking back discretely, Chaud noticed a young couple at the front of the coach section, looking and pointing at Chaud and whispering excitedly; upon noticing they were being watched, they quickly quieted down and looked away. Chaud sighed and turned back to his PET.

"Um... excuse me..." Chaud turned his eye to the aisle, to see that the young woman had walked up to him; she was standing in a way that was making her look rather small, and Chaud could see her long brown hair without even looking up. "Are you... Eugene Chaud?"

"That's me," Chaud replied, looking back at his PET.

"The champion Netbattler from the Red Sun Tournament?" She sounded rather nervous, as though she were meeting a movie star. Chaud nodded without looking up.

The woman grinned, standing up fully. "Perfect." Chaud raised an eyebrow, wondering what she meant, when he suddenly felt a cold, steel barrel being pressed against the side of his head. "Hand over your PET, right now."

Several others on the plane shrieked and stood up, trying to run away, when the girl's companion stood up and pulled out a gun of his own. "If anyone tries to move from their seat, they'll wish they hadn't. Stay where you are!"

More screams erupted, but quickly quieted down out of fear, as everyone either huddled together with their loved ones or moved toward the windows, not wanting to be too close.

Chaud remained looking downward, as if nothing was happening. "How did you get those past security?"

"Less talking and more handing over, pal. You're not in a position to negotiate, here."

Without another word, Chaud handed over his PET, as the girl grinned. "Much better." She turned to her companion and beckoned him forward. "Alright, into the cockpit. Get on the radio and tell them what we want." The man nodded, heading forward into the cockpit and demanding the door be opened, which it quickly was.

The girl smirked, looking back toward the other end of the plane. She blinked and took a closer look, thinking she had seen something near the bathroom, but everything looked normal. She shrugged and turned back toward an annoyingly nonchalant Chaud.

Back in the bathroom, Lan was flattening himself against the wall, breathing hard; his exhaustion was gone, replaced with nerves and adrenaline, and he had managed to painfully remove the chewing gum from his coiffe. "Good... I don't think she saw me looking..."

"Lan! Who didn't see you? What was with the screaming?" Megaman inquired from Lan's belt.

"Plane's been hijacked, from the looks of it..." Lan rubbed his head, trying to think. "Two of them, one boy, one girl... both of them have guns, one of them took Chaud's PET, it looks like..."

"Damn..." Megaman looked up. "What do we do?"

"I have no idea," Lan responded. "We have to disarm them somehow, but how are we going to do that?"

Lan carefully opened the door the tiniest bit, taking a peek. The male hijacker had entered the cockpit, the door of which was shut tight, as the girl smirked at Chaud, holding a gun in one hand and Chaud's PET in the other. He quickly and quietly closed the door again.

"Yea, it's just as I thought... one of them went into the cockpit, but the other one's still there, and she's got a gun." Lan took a deep breath, trying to think.

"Maybe if I distract them..." Megaman mused. "You could jack me into the plane and I could mess with something, then you could disarm them while they're distracted?"

"Maybe..." Lan thought for a minute, a skeptical look on his face; he looked around the bathroom. "Ugh... there are no jack-in spots in here. If I leave and they see me, we're screwed."

"Why not use the wireless?" Megaman offered. "It's not like you're going to need to operate me, so it should be okay..."

"Hm... that's a good idea." Lan reached into his pocket, pulling out the antenna and plugging it into his PET. He then pulled out several Battlechips and slotted them in, one after the other: a Long Sword, an Energy Bomb, and an Area Steal.

"You can use those if you run into any problems, Megaman." Lan turned on the wireless and found a single jack-in point, near the front of the plane. "Be careful out there."

"You too, Lan," Megaman replied, before jumping into the Cyberworld.

* * *

Upon arriving in the plane's Cyberworld, Megaman took a look around; in the cockpit, he could see numerous programs scuttling about busily, but no signs of damage or foul play could be found. He quickly left the cockpit area and headed into the area for coach class, wondering what he could do to get the girl's attention.

"Lan, I can't see the real world from here. What is that girl up to?"

"I don't know..." Lan reached over to the door and opened it just a tiny crack, looking into the hallway via the reflection in his PET; the girl was wandering about the cabin, keeping an eye out for trouble, continually looking back at Chaud to make sure he was staying in place.

"She's wandering the hallways, it looks like." Lan looked back at Megaman. "How are you going to get her attention?"

"Something small, I think... we need to get her curious, not make her panic." Megaman ran along, looking at various programs, until something near the back of the Cyberworld caught his eye.

Back in the cabin, the female hijacker was walking backward down the hallway, looking at Chaud continually with a frequency that bordered on paranoia. After a few seconds of this, she took a deep breath, reassuring herself that he would be no trouble and remembering where his PET was. Feeling more confident, she turned around to face the back of the plane and did a double take; in the very back row, there was a light that was curiously flashing on and off, at a regular interval.

"What the heck...?" She slowly walked toward the back of the plane, taking her gun out of her pocket and turning the safety off. Nobody was in that seat, touching the button or anything like that, but the light was flickering with a very precise rhythm; it was too suspect.

Megaman watched through Lan's PET screen as the girl inched closer and closer, staring at the light, and at the seat nearby. He grinned; soon she would be in a good position for Lan to surprise her. He hoped that Lan knew how to do that effectively, since they would only get one shot at this.

As the girl walked toward the rear of the cabin, something else entirely caught her attention. She looked over at the bathroom door, which was open the tiniest bit, and thought she saw something inside; inching closer and taking a better look, she saw the tiniest sliver of a blue PET, which someone's fingers were wrapped around. She grinned, understanding what had happened, and started moving quietly, but a bit more quickly, toward Lan's location.

Megaman's eyes widened in horror, as he saw the girl change her movement. "Lan, she can see you!" he whispered; Lan quickly drew back and out of sight, suddenly panicked, as Megaman racked his brain, knowing what was about to happen. He looked around the Cyberworld, needing a plan and not having much time.

The girl smirked, as she saw the PET withdraw from sight; she was certain now he was the source of the distraction. She walked up to the slightly ajar door and grasped the side lightly, prepared to wrench it open.

"I don't know what you're planning, you little brat, but it's over now," she muttered.

_Bang!_ She jumped and quickly turned around as a loud sound went off behind her; she reflexively fired her pistol, causing a number of shrieks, and the bullet buried itself in the seat in front of her, before she realized the oxygen masks had deployed themselves for that seat. An instant later, the bathroom door slammed into her and knocked her forward, as Lan slammed into her as hard as he could; she flew forward, tripping on the single chair in the row and smashing her head against the window, dropping both objects in her hand.

"Aha!" Lan ignored a strong pain in his shoulder, as he reached down and grabbed Chaud's red PET, kicking the gun into the bathroom at the same time. Hearing the commotion, Chaud had quickly stood up and was standing in the aisle, as many passengers looked on.

"What the hell's going on back there?!" he demanded.

"Chaud, catch!" Lan wound up and flung Chaud's PET as hard as he could down the aisle; Chaud reached out and grabbed it, as the cockpit door opened and the other hijacker ran out.

"I heard a shot! What-" was all he managed to get out, before Chaud whirled around and slammed the taser end of his PET into the man's chest; his body convulsed for a couple seconds before he slumped to the floor, unconscious.

"Yes!" Lan cried out, followed shortly after by "Agh!" as he received a strong blow to the back of his neck; he fell forward, in a fair amount of pain, as the girl growled down at him. Turning quickly, she moved toward the bathroom, trying to retrieve her gun.

"Freeze!" She looked down the aisle to see Chaud staring her way, holding his PET in one hand, the other pointing the man's pistol at the girl. "Hands in the air, now!"

The girl glared at Chaud for a second, before she reluctantly raised her hands; Chaud walked forward, producing a pair of handcuffs from somewhere on his belt, as Lan looked up rubbing his head.

_Handcuffs, too? Where'd he get that belt from, Batman?_ Lan pondered, as the girl was apprehended.

"I don't know what you two wanted here, but this hijacking is over."

The girl laughed under her breath. "You think it's that easy, do you, you little brat?"

"Hm?" Chaud raised an eyebrow, as Lan sat up; the girl was grinning evilly.

"The two of us, we were just a means to an end. The real threat is already aboard this plane, in its Cyberworld, and this vessel is still under our complete control." She laughed again. "Nebula doesn't like to take chances."

"Nebula?!" Lan exclaimed; he quickly looked around for his PET and grabbed it, as Chaud kept his eye on the female hijacker. "Megaman, be careful! There's something else on this plane!" He stood up and ran toward the cockpit.

'Don't bother jacking in!" the girl taunted. "There's only one port on this whole plane, and my partner's destroyed it! Your meddlesome Navi's all on his lonesome in there!"

"Grr..." Lan looked down at his PET, where Megaman was looking around for any signs of trouble. A moment later, a large, circular projectile flew toward him, which he barely managed to dodge. Looking back at it, it seemed to be a giant shuriken of sorts; he tensed and looked around.

"Who's there?!" he called out.

"Nice move," a voice responded. A tall Navi suddenly appeared in front of him, dressed in full ninja garb, wielding a number of kunai and shurikens. "I can see why you've been giving this Nebula group trouble."

"Who are you? Aren't you with Nebula?" Megaman demanded, getting into an attack position and wondering how to make use of the three Battlechips he had.

"My name is Shadowman," the ninja Navi replied. "An independent mercenary for hire. Nebula is offering me a very large sum of money if I ensure this plane never makes it to its destination."

Shadowman drew a kunai knife from his belt. "Though, to be honest, a battle with one of Electopia's best Navis would also suffice for me. I live for greater and greater challenges, and defeating you will be a feather in my cap."

Megaman glared, forming a Long Sword. "I'm glad you're enjoying this so much, pal." He dashed forward and sliced at Shadowman, who backed off in the blink of an eye. Shadowman quickly produced and threw a number of kunai in Megaman's directiion, which Megaman quickly deflected with his sword.

"Fool! Never stand still!" Shadowman dashed forward with great speed, wielding a long, thin sword, which he swiped toward Megaman. Looking back a second later, he found that Megaman had vanished, and only an Energy Bomb remained in his place. He barely had time to shield himself before it exploded, doing a minor amount of damage. As the blast cleared, Shadowman stood still, dusting himself off, listening. Three seconds later, he quickly turned around and deflected an attack from Megaman's blade.

"Impressive," Shadowman commented. "But let's see you try and dodge this!" Shadowman jumped in the air and waved his arms, spreading a mysterious powder; instantly, grass sprouted up all around Megaman's feet.

"What the...?" Megaman looked down, stepping away as if the grass were dangerous, but it was completely surrounding him. Looking up, he saw Shadowman throw a piece of paper on the ground; a moment later, it combusted, and the grassy area surrounding Megaman instantly went up in tall flames.

"Megaman!" Lan cried out, as the fire burnt around his Navi; it quickly burnt out, leaving a singed Megaman standing in the center on weak legs, covering himself with his arms.

"Unh... that hurt..." Megaman uncovered himself and looked up, to see Shadowman running at him with his sword. Megaman quickly moved his Long Sword in position to defend as Shadowman swung; as the two made contact, Megaman's heated blade shattered, unable to handle the pressure.

"Gah!" Megaman's blade vanished, and he quickly backed off.

"Oh no! Megaman's out of Battlechips!" Lan gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. "If only there was something I could do..."

Megaman quickly generated his Mega Buster and started firing shot after shot; Shadowman dodged each one with ease, getting closer to Megaman with every step. After one such blast, Shadowman appeared right in front of Megaman, kicking him square in the jaw and sending him flying back.

"Your Mega Buster? Please tell me you're not out of tricks already." He jumped in the air again, waving his arms and spreading grass powder throughout a huge portion of the Cyberworld around Megaman, who slowly stood up.

Shadowman smirked. "I suppose the satisfaction of payment will have to suffice for me... so long, Megaman." He flung his paper bomb at the ground, and a giant portion of the Cyberworld went up in flames, as Lan watched, distraught. When the flames subsided, however, Megaman was nowhere to be found.

"What?!" Shadowman and Lan exclaimed at the same time. A second later, Shadowman received a sharp blow to the back of his neck, sending him down to the ground. Lan looked toward Shadowman's assailant, and did a double take; Megaman was floating in the air, the results of an Area Steal. His armor had turned a much lighter shade of blue, and a sort of pack rested on his back, with four long cylinders pointing out of it.

"What? Is this another Style Change?" Lan wondered, as two Energy Bombs appeared in Megaman's hands.

"Hyaah!" Megaman began hurling grenade after grenade in Shadowman's direction, having a seemingly endless supply. Lan boggled at the sight, as Shadowman was hit by a number of explosions. Shadowman landed on the ground shortly thereafter, dashing away to avoid more blasts and looking for Megaman. Megaman disappeared from the air and landed on the ground below, then vanished again to reappear in front of Shadowman, his Long Sword restored.

"What?" Shadowman quickly drew his sword and swung at Megaman, only to see him vanish again; Shadowman turned quickly, sensing Megaman behind him, but was unable to dodge the entirety of Megaman's sword attack.

"Gah!" Shadowman jumped back, holding his side, as he took a good look at Megaman's new form. "So... you've transformed again, you trickster." Shadowman stood up fully, brandishing his sword. "This is the battle I was looking for... time to take it to the next level."

"Stop right there!" Both looked up as a third Navi jumped into the arena, and both Megaman and Shadowman raised eyebrows in recognition at the tall, black-armored Navi.

"It's you!" Megaman called out. "You're the one who saved me from those Nebula Navis!"

Shadowman furrowed his eyebrows. "Colonel... what are you doing here?"

"My job," the Navi replied. "I can't have Nebula interfering however they like with things, especially when the Cybeasts are in their grasp."

"I can't win like this..." Shadowman threw something at the ground, and it exploded in a massive cloud of smoke. Megaman and Colonel dsahed forward through the smoke, to see Shadowman standing back near the cockpit.

"We'll have to finish this another time, Megaman." Shadowman suddenly vanished, leaving the Cyberworld entirely.

"What?" Megaman ran forward. "Where did he go?"

"He left," Colonel commented. "In the same manner I got here, by communicating with the nearest air traffic control tower."

"Damn... oh well..."

Back in the cabin, Chaud was watching the action through Lan's PET. "Colonel... I thought he'd be showing up sooner or later."

"What?! Colonel?!" the female hijacker cried out, as Chaud smirked.

"Looks like it's all over for the two of you," Chaud commented; he walked over to the cockpit to inform the pilot, leaving the girl handcuffed by the wrists and ankles.

Megaman turned back to Colonel. "Looks like I owe you another one."

"You seemed to have the situation under control," Colonel responded. "Impressive transformation; what was that?"

"It's a Style Change of some kind, but I'm not sure which." Megaman looked down at himself. "I'll have to ask Dr. Hikari once the plane lands."

Colonel walked toward the cockpit. "Seems like I wasn't needed after all, then."

"Heh, at least they didn't bring the two Cybeasts on board, then we'd be in real trouble," Megaman chuckled.

Colonel raised an eyebrow and turned around. "What?"

Megaman faltered. "Er... you know, the two Cybeasts... the wolf and the falcon, aren't you supposed to know about them?"

"No, not that." Colonel's face seemed stony. "You said two Cybeasts, but there aren't two. There are three."

Megaman blinked. "Wait, what?"

Colonel rubbed his forehead. "This isn't good... you're telling me SciLab only knows of two of the Cybeasts?"

"Wait, back up." Megaman held out his hands. "SciLab only ever had two Cybeasts imprisoned, how could there be a third?"

Colonel sighed, realizing he now had to lecture this Navi. "There are three Cybeasts, and I've seen every one with my own eyes. Gregar the wolf, Falzar the falcon, and Fenrir the serpent."

"The serpent?" Megaman wondered aloud. "There was never anything like that..."

"Fifteen years ago, when SciLab informed me they had captured the Cybeasts, I presumed they had found all three. If what you're saying is true, though, then it seems Fenrir has eluded them all this time. Who knows what sort of trouble that monster is causing..."

Colonel walked toward the cockpit again. "Looks like I've got some work to do, tracking down a lost Cybeast. I suggest you tell those morons at SciLab about this as soon as possible." Colonel walked into the transmitter that connected them to the ground and vanished, as Megaman turned back toward Lan.

"Lan! Were you watching all that?"

"Yea, I was... three Cybeasts? And that Style Change..." Lan pressed a few buttons on his PET, and Megaman returned to it via the wireless antenna. "This is getting confusing all over again. We need to call Dad as soon as we land and tell him what's going on."

"What's going on?" Chaud inquired, walking back from the cockpit. Lan rubbed his head and began to explain, as the flight continued on toward the Red Sun/Blue Moon championships.


	24. Chapter 10: The Pride Of Creamland

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 2: The Sun And The Moon_

* * *

Chapter 10: The Pride Of Creamland

"AquaCustom Style, huh?"

Lan was lying on a large, comfortable bed in a rather luxurious hotel room, having arrived in Creamland an hour before; he was looking into his PET, conversing with his father via phone.

"From what you describe, that's what it sounds like," Dr. Hikari replied. "A Custom Style allows you to use the same Battlechip up to ten times when you slot it in."

"Wow, seriously?" Lan's eyes widened. "That sounds pretty useful!"

Yuichiro nodded. "It can be, yes. However, it does come at a cost; Megaman's speed and strength drop a bit when you change to AquaCustom Style. It's a strategic option, not an all-powerful one."

Lan nodded. "Time and place for everything..."

"So then Colonel arrived and told you of this third Cybeast?"

"Uh huh." Lan nodded. "Fenrir, the serpent... you've never heard of him before?"

"No, not once." Yuichiro rubbed his forehead. "I don't have any idea what Colonel is talking about; two were all we ever saw. Either he's lying, or this other Cybeast is extremely adept at hiding, and that doesn't make much sense given the other two."

"Colonel said he saw the third Cybeast with his own eyes," Megaman chimed in. "Maybe I should have asked what he looked like."

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter too much, in the big scheme of things," Yuichiro responded. "If Colonel is telling the truth, then he's going to go after it and let us know where it is, I presume. If Colonel is lying, then... well, nothing's changed."

Lan nodded, rubbing his head, as his father continued. "Anyway, if I were you, I wouldn't worry about it too much, Lan; that's my job. You and Megaman have got other things to worry about, like that tournament."

Lan grinned and nodded. "It's still a couple days before the tournament actually starts. You're going to be watching, right?"

"You know it. Your mother and I are very proud of you both, you know." His father smiled. "Speaking of which, you should give her a call; she's probably worried. You may want to leave out the parts about the hijacking, though."

Lan nodded, saying his goodbyes and hanging up. He lay back on the bed for a minute, arms outstretched, taking in the events of the day. He looked over at the bedside clock; it was 1:30 pm. He still had most of the day ahead of him, with no obligations that he could think of; his hotel was located in the middle of downtown Centropolis, the capital of Creamland, and he figured he could explore for a little while. Maybe he'd buy some souvenirs for his friends and family; he'd seen some pretty quirky things in shop windows on the bus ride to his hotel.

He yawned, rather fatigued from his lack of sleep, and grabbed his PET again, planning to call his mother, and maybe Mayl, before taking a short nap.

* * *

Two days later, his hotel room was a mess; his bed was unmade, some of his clothes were thrown onto a nearby chair, two bags of souvenirs sat lazily on the bedside table, and there was an empty pizza box littering the floor. Lan, however, was nowhere to be found inside it.

At 9:00 am that day, Lan had traveled to the site of the Red Sun/Blue Moon Tournament, Creamland Castle. He was greeted at the door by a wave of reporters and journalists, smothering him and demanding to know about one of the greatest Netbattlers in the world; he had been forced to duck and run, as if trying to avoid a swarm of bees. Upon entering the castle, a tournament official had led him into the contestant's area, where he had time to relax before the tournament began.

"Geez, it's like a circus out there," Lan commented. "This is even bigger than I thought..."

"You're not getting nervous, are you, Lan?" Megaman wondered.

"No way!" Lan replied, before looking down. "Well... maybe a little, but it's no problem. We can still do just fine!"

"Fat chance," came a voice to Lan's left; Lan looked over to see Chaud leaning against the wall, rather nonchalant. He pointed to a screen across the room. "Take a look."

Lan stood and walked over, finding that the tournament pairings had already been posted. He ran his finger along the bottom row, looking at the first round pairings, and it didn't take long to see what Chaud was talking about.

"Match #4, Lan Hikari vs. Eugene Chaud," he repeated out loud.

"You won't escape our battle this time," Chaud commented. "You couldn't defeat Protoman before and you won't now. Enjoy your time in the spotlight while it lasts."

Lan stuck his tongue out at Chaud, an action that betrayed his confidence. "We'll see who beats who, pal!"

"Lan, cool down," Megaman urged. "We can't win if we're not focused. Don't let him get to you."

Lan took a deep breath and nodded, as Chaud smirked. "Okay, I'm good." He looked around at the others who were here; there were about twelve competitors here already, out of fifteen. They were of all races, genders and sizes, but as far as Lan could tell, everyone here was older than he was. He stretched, brushing it off; such facts hadn't deterred him before, and they certainly wouldn't now. He took a look through a nearby door, at the large room where they would be competing. He had entered that room the day before, when the Netbattlers had congregated for their tour of Creamland's historic sites.

* * *

They had gathered around the long, rectangular arena where the battles would be held; this was surrounded by a number of large, white chairs with wires attached to them, and including some strange sort of helmet attacked to it. Lan wondered what these were meant for, but hadn't the time to ask.

As the Netbattlers had looked around, musing to themselves, their attention was suddenly drawn upward to a balcony overlooking the room. A young woman, slightly older than Lan's age, stepped through the door and onto the balcony; she wore a long, regal, white dress, and a spectacular tiara sat atop a head of long, wavy, blonde hair. Lan realized that this must be Princess Pride; while he had read about her, he had never seen her picture, and was surprised to find she was rather beautiful. He felt his cheeks redden.

"Thank you all for coming," she began. "Creamland is honored to be host to such a prestigious event, and to have such great Netbattlers in our midst. It is my hope that this event will help foster cooperation between the various nations of the world, and that..."

She cut herself off, staring at one of the lower entrances to the room. Everyone turned around, following her gaze, to see that another man had entered the room; Lan realized he'd seen him with the other contestants, as the sole representative of Sharo, but wondered why he'd walked in late.

"Forgive me, your Majesty." He bowed deeply. "I must regretfully take my leave. My country has met with a minor crisis, and our capitol Net City has been destroyed." The other Netbattlers started muttering amongst themselves.

"Er..." Princess Pride blinked. "Yes, of course." She gave a light curtsy. "I wish you the best of luck. Thank you again for being here." The man bowed again and took his leave, as the others watched him go.

"Nonetheless, we thank you again for being in attendance," she continued. "I wish you all the best of luck in tomorrow's tournament, and hope that you enjoy your tour around our capitol." The other Netbattlers had bowed as the princess took her leave, and soon after, they were loaded onto a bus for their tour.

* * *

Lan thought back to that day, wondering again about the departing Netbattler. He'd read in the news of the attack on Yumland, but the news had been downplayed in favor of pre-tournament coverage; his father had no additional information on the event, either. Chaud had quickly shrugged it off as one less Netbattle to fight; while Lan wasn't as quick to be so callous, he eventually put it out of his mind as well. He took another look around the room, wondering about the monumental task ahead of him; all of his competitors were as focused as he was, if not more so, and he knew he'd have a tough time becoming the world's greatest Netbattler.

A short while later, a thirty-something man in a Creamland Official Netbattler uniform walked in and cleared his throat. "Excuse me, but we would like for you to gather in the tournament hall immediately. The tournament will be beginning shortly."

Lan stood up and stretched, as the members of the room started moving toward the door. He stretched his arms, highly focused and somewhat nervous. "Are you ready, Megaman?"

"You bet!" Megaman responded eagerly. "Let's go!" Lan smiled as he walked into the tournament hall, following the directions of the Officials to find his specific spot around the arena. He looked around the room, to see a number of video cameras had been set up; some were trained on the arena, while others were clearly meant to catch the faces of the Netbattlers. He swallowed nervously, having forgotten about the live broadcast.

"You're not getting cold feet, are you?" The female Netbattler next to him winked; Lan smirked.

"No way! Me and Megaman are ready to win!"

"You'll have a tough time beating me!" another Netbattler chimed in from further down the table.

"Ha! None of you are even going to be a challenge!" yet another added. Lan started to reply, when he heard the sound of laughter echoing in the air.

"Well, I'm glad to see all of you are so eager." Everyone looked up, as the voice of an older man rang out. "If you're not the best Netbattlers in the world, you're certainly the most arrogant."

The Netbattlers started muttering amongst themselves, wondering who was speaking; Lan and Chaud steeled themselves.

"I know that voice..." Chaud muttered.

"Me too... but who..." Lan looked around, intensely curious and on his guard, when everyone was alerted to the sound of footsteps. For the second time in as many days, everyone in the room looked upward toward the balcony, to see who was walking out. Unlike yesterday, however, the tall figure who walked into the room was not Princess Pride.

"Regal!" Lan and Chaud cried out at once.

From atop the balcony, Dr. Regal smirked and laughed under his breath. "It seems some of us have met before... for everyone who doesn't know me, allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Lucius Regal, and I am the leader of the Electopian faction of Nebula."

"Nebula?!" The cry was simultaneous about the room, and various Netbattlers took steps either forward or back.

"So this whole tournament was just a set-up? This is some demonstration of yours?!" the Yumland representative cried out.

"Wrong on both counts," Regal replied. "Nebula is not responsible for this tournament, but the INC has provided us with quite an exciting venue for our true goal."

Regal grinned widely, a spark of evil in his eyes. "Nebula's goal is one of world conquest, and that dream becomes reality today, when we take this nation of Creamland!"

Everyone in the room gasped and started shouting at Dr. Regal, who silenced the partially angry, partially curious bunch by holding up his hand. "This castle was placed under siege twenty minutes ago by its own defense system, and the government's Mother Computer is being raided and controlled as we speak. This nation's reliance on Net technology and defense has made it a pathetically easy target for our capable organization; you don't even have a standing army, you need a larger nation to protect yourselves. They won't be coming, by the way."

He chuckled lightly. "As for your precious Princess Pride... we'll say she's been deposed."

"You monster!" The Creamland Netbattler yelled up at him. "Nebula will never get away with this!"

"That's right!" another shouted. "You've still got the world's best Netbattlers to deal with, pal! How do you expect yourself to take over Creamland by computer with all of us here?!"

Regal laughed. "That's simple. It's because I am safely up here..."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out some sort of remote. "And you are all down there."

As he pressed the button, the Netbattlers below suddenly began disappearing into the floor, one by one. Before Lan had any time to react, he felt the floor give way underneath him, and he fell into a deep pit, Regal's laughter fading away as he descended. The path soon curved, turning into a primitive slide, and Lan tried to use his feet to slow his descent, with mediocre results. Eventually Lan saw a dim light at the end of the tunnel, and he fell out of the slide into a dank, stone room, rolling and hitting the wall hard.

"Ugh..." He slowly sat up, grabbing his wrist, which felt like it had been sprained in the landing. He took a look around; as far as he could tell, he was in some sort of dungeon below the castle. The room was completely empty, save for a single door, which he suspected was locked.

"Lan! Are you alright? What happened with Dr. Regal?" Lan reached down to his PET to talk to Megaman.

"You heard what happened, right? With Regal and Nebula?"

Megaman nodded. "They're trying to take over Creamland..."

Lan stood up. "They dropped us down into the basement... or whatever this is." He ran up to the door and tried to bash it open, to no avail. "Damn... must be an electronic lock somewhere, but there's no port on this side..."

His eyebrows raised, and he started fishing through his pocket. "Megaman, do you think you could unlock this door without my help?"

"Probably," Megaman answered. "But even if we do get out, what can we do?"

Lan pulled out his wireless. "I don't know, but it's got to be better than sticking around here." He plugged it in and quickly found the lock to the door, pressing a button and sending Megaman into the Cyberworld.

Looking around, Megaman quickly found the lock to the door. Running toward it, however, a variety of viruses appeared to block his way.

"Megaman! Heat Guts style!" Lan called out, pressing the same button he touched earlier, and Megaman's body lit up as it transformed itself into his orange Heat Guts style. He aimed his buster at the viruses and fired off a series of highly powerful shots, deleting the viruses effortlessly. He grinned and ran forward, hitting the switch for the door lock before returning to Lan's PET.

"Way to go, Megaman!" Lan wrenched the door open and found himself in a long hallway, full of old, locked wooden doors; he could see light and a stairwell at the end of it, and he began to run. At the other end of the hall, he heard his phone ringing, and quickly moved to answer it as he ran up the stairs, to see Chaud's face on the other end.

"Lan! You're alright? You managed to escape too?"

Lan nodded. "I'm trying to find my way back into the castle. Where are you?"

"I'm doing the same," Chaud replied. "I've made a quick call to SciLab trying to figure out what exactly is going on."

"And?"

"It's complete chaos," he responded. "While we were waiting for the tournament to begin, Nebula made its move on SciLab. It somehow hacked into the OS and assigned Officials to all different parts of the country."

"So they can't come to help Creamland, right?" Lan pondered.

"That's my guess, but whatever. After they did that, they deleted the SciLab OS. It's going to take them days to get anybody out here."

"Damn... what else? Did they attack Mother Computer or something?" Lan wondered what kind of damage could have been done, thinking about the Mother Computer, which held all of the important data for the governing of Electopia.

"Mother is fine; from what I hear, they were in and out as fast as they could be," Chaud answered. "They just didn't want Electopia interfering until it was too late, I guess."

Lan nodded. "So it's just Creamland that's in trouble, I guess?"

"Wait, there was one other thing," Chaud remembered. "Iris is missing."

"What?!" Lan and Megaman exclaimed at the same time. "What do they want with her?"

"I don't know, I'm just repeating what I was told. What's important is that we're completely on our own here."

"Great..." Lan reached the top of the stairs, looking around; there were two hallways in front of him, and a door to his right. "The fate of the country is in the hands of two kids." He started to run down another hallway, when he noticed something about the door; there were some cracks in it, and he thought he could see something move inside.

"Well, we're not helpless. I'm going to try and find Regal, it sounds like he's doing most of the work here himself. You just focus on staying alive, I'll be in contact."

"Hold on..." Lan backed up a bit, his eyes on the old, wooden door, before he ran and slammed his shoulder into it; the door flew open upon impact, the lock flying right out of the rotted wood, and Lan tumbled to the floor, not expecting it to give so easily.

"What the heck did you just do?" Chaud demanded, as Lan sat up, looking around the room; his eyes quickly came to rest on something.

"Ah! Princess!" Lan stood up and ran over to the corner of the room, where Princess Pride sat, propped up, her eyes closed and a gag over her mouth.

"What?! The Princess?! Is she alive?" Chaud inquired, as Lan kneeled next to where the Princess was seated; her wrists and ankles were tied together. He could hear the sound of her breathing.

"Yes! She's unconscious, but she's still alive!"

"That's great news," Chaud responded, concentrating on something on his PET; a second later, Lan's PET made an odd noise. He looked down at it, and saw an insignia appear in the corner, the symbol of the Official Netbattlers.

"I'm giving you Official authority, for now," Chaud explained. "Do everything in your power to keep the Princess safe; I'm going to stop whatever plans Regal has in place. Creamland won't fall to anyone today."

Lan nodded, as Chaud hung up, and got to removing the princess's restraints. She quickly stirred, as Lan removed the gag from her mouth.

"Unh..." she mumbled. "What happened..."

"Princess!" Lan exclaimed. "Are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?"

Princess Pride looked up at her rescuer, and her eyes held a glint of recognition. "You're... one of the tournament Netbattlers, aren't you?" She scooted away a bit, slightly fearful. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

"Er..." Lan hadn't expected such a response. "I'm Lan Hikari. I'm from Electopia..." He reached for his PET, showing it to Princess Pride. "Look, I'm with the ONB. Kind of... for now, anyway."

Pride breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness... I thought you were one of the others."

"What do you mean?" Lan inquired, moving to untie her wrists.

"We've been double-crossed," Pride explained. "Some of-"

She stopped, as a large grinding sound came from above; both looked up, to see that a large number of spikes now adorned the ceiling. Princess Pride shrieked; Lan, acting entirely on instinct, grabbed the Princess in his arms and dashed for the door, leaning low, as the ceiling began to fall. They made it out the door with no time to spare, as the ceiling crashed into the ground; Lan fell forward, feeling himself restrained, and Princess Pride fell out of his arms and onto the floor, bracing herself.

"Ouch!" Lan sat up, rubbing his face, and looked behind him to find his shoelace had been caught. "Whoa... that was close..." He reached back and yanked the shoelace free, then turned and moved toward the fallen Princess.

"Sorry about that... are you okay?" He moved to untie her ankles.

"You... risked your life to save me..." Princess Pride reached out, bringing Lan's head to hers and kissing his cheek appreciatively. "Thank you..."

"Don't... mention it..." Lan turned red again, quickly untying her ankles, and they both stood up. "Come on, it's not safe here. We need to find someplace else."

The Princess nodded. "There's a panic room here in the dungeons; no one can enter it if someone's already inside." She looked around, trying to remember where she was, then pointed down a hallway. "It should be this way." Lan and Pride took off down the hallway, running to safety. After a few minutes, they came to another locked door; and Lan reached for his PET.

"Megaman! You know the drill!"

Megaman nodded, as Lan changed him into HeatGuts Style for the second time, sending him into the Cyberworld via the wireless, as Pride looked on at Lan's screen.

"More viruses!" Megaman reported, charging up his Buster and torching a series of Mettools, who were deleted almost instantly. "Not as strong as last time, though..." He ran forward to deactivate the lock, when he was knocked aside by a powerful blast.

"Ow... who's there?!" Megaman quickly turned, and gaped at his assailant. Smirking and standing off to the side was Dr. Regal, who was bathed in a powerful orange aura.

"Surprised to see me, Megaman?" He laughed and pointed his finger at Megaman, firing an energy blast in his direction; Megaman barely managed to dodge.

"But how?! What are you doing in... why are you so strong?!"

Regal laughed. "I assure you, I have good answers to those questions, but I don't feel like answering them. I feel like deleting you instead!" He raised his hands above his head, and a bright red energy blade appeared.

"Life Sword 2!" he cried out, swinging the energy blade, as Megaman braced himself. As the attack approached, it was disrupted by another from above, a bright green. Megaman looked up, as a familiar Navi landed between him and Regal.

"Colonel!" Megaman exclaimed. Colonel didn't respond, staring down Regal, who grimaced.

"You again... don't you ever give up?"

"Regal, you dog..." Colonel took a step forward. "This explains everything..."

"What?" Megaman inquired, running forward. "What's going on?"

"Megaman, get out of here!" Colonel ordered. "I can handle Regal. You get the Princess to safety!"

"Er... right!" Megaman ran toward the lock, as Colonel and Regal began to battle each other; he quickly had the door unlocked, and returned to Megaman's PET.

"Got it!" Lan yanked the door open, but jumped back when he saw someone on the other side.

"Princess Pride!" The female operator who Lan met in the tournament hall was standing on the other side of the door, glaring at Lan and Pride. Pride stepped back.

"You again! You're the one who captured me!"

"Her?!" Lan goggled. "But she's one of the competitors!"

"She's a traitor! She's under Nebula's employ!" Pride exclaimed, as the girl frowned.

"I don't know how you got out, but you're going back in!" She threw a punch at Lan, who ducked and grabbed the girl's arm, pulling her forward and tossing her beyond the door. Princess Pride ran through the door, followed by Lan, who slammed it shut, as the Princess locked it, trapping the Nebula operator inside.

"Phew..." she exhaled, smiling at Lan. "Good thing Electopia trains their ONB well."

"Well..." Lan rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not actually trained... Chaud's the real ONB, not me. I'm just making this up as I go."

The Princess grinned. "Well, you've got good instincts then. Come on, we're almost there." They started running again; one minute later, they came to a strong, steel door in the wall. Pride tapped at a keypad nearby, and the door slowly opened.

"Hurry and get inside!" Lan encouraged, as the Princess did just that. "Just stay here and keep safe. I'm going to help Chaud take down Regal."

"Thank you for everything, Lan Hikari." Princess Pride clasped one of Lan's hand in both of hers. "Please be careful; our nation's fate is in your hands."

Lan nodded. "I won't let you down!" The Princess shut the door, which sealed itself tight, as Lan took off down another hallway. Just as he realized he was completely lost, he rounded a corner and screeched to a halt, as Dr. Regal's imposing figure stood before him.

"You again! But... you were just..."

Regal chuckled. "I'm a very resourceful man, Lan Hikari, just as you appear to be." Regal walked forward, as Lan backed up against the wall, ready to throw a punch if he needed to.

"You have been a continual thorn in my side ever since the Red Sun tournament," Regal began to lecture. "You stole Iris from us, you stopped us from winning the tournament with our Cybeast warriors... and now you seek to undo our work here in Creamland. I will not have it, not when we are so close to victory."

Regal smirked. "I should have you tortured, just so you can feel the pain and frustration you have caused me... unfortunately, I'm a little pressed for time."

Before Lan had time to react, Regal pulled a handgun from his side and fired, point-blank, at Lan's chest. The force of the impact knocked Lan against the wall, and he fell to the ground, not moving a muscle.

"That takes care of that." Regal grinned and turned around, walking down the hallway. "Now just one more insect to take care of, before we start targeting the members of Parliament. Soon, Creamland will be ours..."

Regal laughed to himself as he walked away, leaving Lan lying in a heap on the ground, oblivious to Megaman's cries.

"Lan?! Say something! Lan!" Lan didn't respond.


	25. Chapter 11: Fenrir

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 2: The Sun And The Moon_

* * *

Chapter 11: Fenrir

In the corner of a dark, secluded room in the Cyberworld, a female Navi sat holding herself, disoriented and fearful for her life. She had been trapped there for several hours; though she may have been able to escape, she didn't even try.

"Good to see you again, Iris." She looked up at the mention of her name, as a taller Navi walked up to her.

"What... what do you want with me?" Iris held herself tighter. The other Navi chuckled, walking forward and rubbing her head, which caused her to shrink down in fear.

"Why so tense? I don't have any intention of hurting you, my dear." He smiled, failing to completely conceal an evil grin. "I just have something I'd like to ask of you."

Iris nodded. "I know... what you want me to do..."

"Good, that saves us a bit of time." The Navi chuckled again. "As I said, I don't intend to hurt you. If you can do this for me when the time is right, I will set you free. You won't be hurt by me or Nebula ever again, you have my word."

Iris looked up, the tiniest hint of hope in her eyes. "Free? But... how can I trust you?"

The figure laughed. "My dear Iris... do you really think you have a choice?"

He laughed, walking away and leaving Iris in the dark again. Iris looked down, shaking, wanting nothing more than to be back at SciLab, with people she felt she could maybe trust.

* * *

Rounding another corner, Chaud managed to find his way back to familiar territory: the tournament room, where the challengers had met. He noticed the trapdoors had sealed themselves again, but other than that, there was nothing of interest to be found here.

"Damn... I know I heard a gunshot from somewhere nearby." He looked around, stepping forward cautiously. "It must have been Regal..."

"Very astute." Chaud wheeled around, to see Dr. Regal standing once again in the balcony, a handgun pointed directly at Chaud. "It was indeed me who fired that gunshot; I used that bullet to take care of Dr. Hikari's boy."

"No!" Chaud steeled himself, gritting his teeth. "You bastard, Regal..."

"Call me what you like. I never claimed to be anything special." Regal smirked. "I just do what it takes to get the job done."

Regal cocked the gun he was holding, as Chaud racked his brains for a plan. "Once you're out of the way, no one else will be able to stop me; you two were the only competent Netbattlers here. Creamland will soon be ours! All hail Nebula!"

"No way!" Regal's eyebrows raised as he heard a voice behind him, and he quickly turned around; he had no time to react before a powerful bodycheck sent him over the edge of the balcony. His gun went off as he fell, firing into the ceiling, before he landed hard on the floor.

"Ugh... what?! Who..." Both Regal and Chaud looked up, to see Lan looking over the edge of the balcony.

"What?!" Regal growled and stood up. "Impossible! I shot you! How are you still alive?!"

Lan smirked, holding his chest and breathing somewhat heavily. "Guess I got lucky."

Regal bared his teeth, standing up and aiming his handgun again. "Well, your luck just ran out!" He pointed it right at Lan, fumbling to fire the gun, when Chaud smashed his PET into Regal's head from behind.

"Ow!" Regal grabbed his head and turned to look at a very surprised Chaud, who quickly jammed the taser ends of his PET into the man's body; a few painful seconds later, he slumped over, unconscious.

"Huh," Chaud remarked, putting away the sparking taser tips. "That usually works in the movies."

"Chaud! Are you alright?" Lan climbed onto the outside of the balcony, hanging from the edge before dropping to the lower floor; he fell over, holding his side again and groaning in pain.

"I'm fine," Chaud replied, walking over to Lan, who was slowly standing. "You look a little worse for wear, though..."

Both of them walked to Regal's unconscious body. Chaud took another look at Lan, and did a double take when he saw a clear bullet hole in Lan's vest. "What the... he... but how did you..."

Lan grinned, reaching into the pocket that displayed the bullet hole; he pulled out a blue diamond charm, with a bullet fimrly lodged in its center. "It's a good luck charm I got at the airport. Pretty ironic, huh?"

Chaud smirked, reaching down and grabbing Regal's body. "That's not what 'ironic' means."

Lan reached down to help pick him up, but fell over as he tried to lift. "Dammit..." He grabbed his side again. "Feels like my rib is broken or something..."

"It probably is," Chaud replied, sitting Regal upright against the table. "Don't strain yourself."

Lan nodded, standing up. "So what do we do now? Is it over?"

Chaud shook his head. "Regal can't do any more damage himself, but I'm sure that all sorts of things are going down in Cyberworld. Once we get Regal tied up, we'll have to jack in and do our best to..."

Chaud cut himself off, as Lan's PET phone rang; Lan reached for it, looking into the screen to see who was calling. "Colonel!"

"Where is Regal?" Colonel demanded, as Chaud leaned in to see.

"He's right here," Lan answered. "He's knocked out."

"Good," Colonel replied. "You must jack his body into a Pulse Transmission System, right away. There should be plenty in the meeting hall."

"Pulse Transmission System? What?" Lan looked around, seeing a lot of strange chairs, but nothing that seemed like what he was looking for; Chaud, however, started dragging Regal's body over to one of them.

"Here," Chaud commented. "Help me get him into this thing."

"This is what it is?" Lan wondered, as he helped seat Dr. Regal in the chair.

"It's a technology that Creamland developed." Chaud sat Regal upright, putting a headpiece onto Regal. "It allows the user to project his body into the Cyberworld, like a NetNavi."

Lan thought back to twenty minutes ago, when he had seen Regal's body in the Cyberworld. "I see..."

Chaud put Regal's hands onto the arms of the chair. "There, that should do it."

"Good," came Colonel's voice from Lan's PET. "Send him into the Cyberworld, then jack both your Navis in; I'm going to need their help."

"Doing what?" Lan asked, as Chaud turned the machine on.

"You'll see," Colonel answered, ending the call. Lan looked around for a jack-in port, finding several lining the table, and he pulled out his PET's cable, plugging it in and sending Megaman into the Cyberworld.

* * *

Megaman found three other bodies waiting for him upon his arrival in the Cyberworld; Protoman, Colonel, and the unconscious body of Dr. Regal. Regal still sported the strange orange glow he had before, as bright as ever.

"What the devil is that?" Protoman inquired, walking over toward Regal. "That strange aura..."

"That," Colonel replied, "is our missing Cybeast."

"What?!" Protoman and Megaman turned toward Colonel, who began walking toward Dr. Regal's limp form.

"It's possessing him somehow." Colonel kneeled next to the body. "Controlling his body and mind, turning him toward evil... who knows how long it's been here..."

"So that's how Regal could command the other two Cybeasts..." Protoman pondered.

"That explains a lot." Megaman walked over. "How are we supposed to get it out?"

"That's what I'm here for." Colonel raised his arm, which glowed a bright white and transformed into what appeared to be a giant syringe. "I'll extract it myself, but it's going to put up quite a fight. I need you two to restrain Dr. Regal while I take Fenrir."

Megaman nodded and bent down to hold down Regal's left arm, while Protoman took his right; Colonel placed his foot on Regal's chest.

"Ready?" The other two nodded, and Colonel plunged the needle into Regal's chest. Regal instantly awakened, crying out in pain and trying to free himself from his constraints; Megaman held him down with all his strength. A few seconds later, a strange orange substance began to fill Colonel's syringe, and Regal's yells changed to a cross between a shriek and a loud rasp.

Megaman felt a wave of revulsion wash over him, and he suddenly felt weak, falling forward a bit; an instant later the device on his hip flashed, warding off the effects of the Cybeast, and he continued to hold down Regal as best he could. After a minute or so of this, Regal finally fell back, drained of his energy as well as the Cybeast.

Megaman sat back. "Is it over? Is the Cybeast gone?" He looked up at Colonel, whose syringe was now filled to the brim with an orange substance; Megaman could barely believe that the Cybeast would fit, but his arm was now giving off the same orange aura that Regal had been.

Colonel smirked. "Yes, I've got him." He seemed awed by the awesome power in his arm, as it bathed his face in orange light. "Well done, both of you... now I've got other things to take care of, in Mother Computer..."

"What? What do you-" Protoman began, but he stopped himself as Colonel teleported away. Megaman stood up, as well as Protoman.

"Well, never mind him. We need to attend to Dr. Regal." Protoman jacked out, and Megaman quickly followed.

* * *

A few minutes later, Regal stirred and opened his eyes, seeing two young boys in front of him. "Unh... what happened..."

"Are you alright, Dr. Regal?" Lan asked.

"Yes... I feel fine." Regal looked down at his hands, and his eyes widened. "How... I'm in control again..."

"Yes," Chaud responded. "With our help, Colonel was able to extract the Cybeast Fenrir from your body..."

"Colonel?!" Regal's eyes shot open, and he stood up quickly, causing him to lose his balance a bit, still a little unsteady. "No no no... this is bad, this is very bad..."

"Huh?" Lan wondered, walking over to Regal, who was regaining his balance against the table. "Isn't Colonel on our side?"

"Are you mad?!" Regal replied. "Colonel is the one who had that Cybeast attack me, fifteen years ago!"

"What?!"

Regal nodded. "That bastard left me to die in the Cyberworld while I was pulsed in... somehow, that Cybeast must have taken over my body instead." Regal looked around, trying to find where he was. "I don't know what Colonel's aims are, but they're anything but good. And with all three Cybeasts uncovered, who knows what sort of damage he could do... he must be stopped!"

Chaud stepped forward. "Where is Mother Computer? Colonel said he would be there..."

"It's this way!" Regal started running off, with Lan and Chaud following close behind. "I'll have to go in and undo the damage I've done to Creamland's system. You two must stop Colonel!"

"Got it!" The trio continued running through hallways, until they reached a metal, computerized door, which Regal quickly unlocked. Running in, they found themselves in a large room full of computing equipment. Various consoles and screens lined the walls, while in the center stood a tall structure, humming loudly and beeping intermittently; this was the Mother mainframe, which held the critical information and systems for governing Creamland.

Regal ran over to a nearby console and started typing away. "I'll get to work here. You two jack into the Mother mainframe!" Chaud and Lan nodded, running to the mainframe and quickly jacking in their Navis, as Lan continued to hold his side.

Appearing in the Mother Computer, Megaman quickly took a look around. They had landed in the center of a large, empty circle; all around them, a short distance away, was a large number of tall processing towers, all of them working on various jobs.

"I was wondering when you would show up!" Both Navis looked up together and ran over to the edge of the area; Colonel stood high atop one of the towers, grinning evilly, the large needle still on the end of his arm. "Took you long enough to figure it out, didn't you?"

"Colonel! What are you planning?" Protoman barked out, as Megaman assumed a defensive stance.

"What do you think? I'm planning to take Regal's place, as leader of this world!" Colonel laughed. "With the Cybeasts at my side, no one will be able to stop me!"

"You're bluffing!" Megaman yelled out. "If you wanted to take over the world with the Cybeasts, you would have done so fifteen years ago!"

Colonel smirked. "Back then, I ran into some complications; a few unforeseen events got in my way. In order to proceed, I needed two things, and I couldn't get my hands on either one until it was too late."

He grinned evilly, chuckling. "But now all the pieces have fallen into place. Falzar and Gregar have been released from their prisons, and I have both keys to unlocking their true power. One is the final Cybeast, Fenrir; the other also came into my possession just recently, and will be of great help."

His eyes gleamed. "Come on out..."

Megaman and Protoman watched as a smaller figure walked forward from a ways behind Colonel; Megaman's eyes widened as he recognized the petite white figure, her arms wrapped around herself.

"Iris!" he cried out. "What do you need with her?!"

"Iris is the key to unlocking the true power of the Cybeasts," Colonel explained. "And once she does so, they will wreak havoc on this Net-based world and bring it to its knees!"

"You monster!" Megaman ran forward, as Lan sent him a sword. "You won't get away with this!" As he was about to jump up and attack, a loud roar echoed through the Cyberworld, causing him to stop in his tracks. In a flash, two massive creatures appeared on either side of the two Navis; Gregar and Falzar had arrived. Megaman whirled around and looked at them as the two monsters stared them down, wondering how he was supposed to fight these two and save Iris at the same time.

"Don't worry, they won't hurt you." Colonel smirked. "Not until I tell them to, anyway..."

"How are you controlling them?!" Protoman demanded. "What's your secret?"

Colonel laughed, grabbing Iris by the arm and leaping down to Megaman's level. "You make it sound like I've got some trick up my sleeve; you don't have any idea. To control them is my duty, it's the reason I was created!"

He smirked and walked forward, holding tightly onto a fearful Iris, who dared not try to pull away. "Both my little sister and I are independent Navis, created by higher powers than you fools, specifically to watch over the Cybeasts. I am endowed with the ability to exert control over the Cybeasts, keeping them in line, having them obey my every command. If I am in their presence, they dare not move a muscle unless I give the signal."

He threw Iris forward, and she landed painfully on the ground, crying out. "Little Iris here has a rather special ability as well, one she can use if the Cybeasts ever become separated. In fact, I think she wants to demonstrate it for us now, don't you, Iris?"

"No!" Megaman ran forward. "I won't let you!" Colonel's eyes flashed, and Megaman was knocked away by Gregar's paw, sending him flying to the other end of the makeshift arena. Colonel laughed, and raised his needle arm.

"You think you can stop this, can you? You're a fool! This plan has been in motion for ages, and I won't be thwarted by the likes of you!" The needle started to glow a bright orange, and a flash of light engulfed the Cyberworld, forcing Megaman and Protoman to look away. When Megaman looked back, one more monster had joined the fray; a gigantic, orange cobra was lying next to Colonel and Iris, its forked tongue tasting the air.

"Finally, all three Cybeasts are together again." Colonel walked forward to Iris, who slowly stood up. "I believe it's your turn now, my dear sister."

"Iris, no!" Megaman called out. "Don't listen to him! You don't have to do this!"

Iris looked down, thinking of Megaman's kindness, but also of Colonel's severity, and his promise to set her free. "Megaman... I'm sorry..."

She raised her hand, which generated a light blue aura that slowly began to expand. As Megaman and Protoman watched, the aura spread out over the arena, encasing everyone in its light. The Cybeasts didn't move a muscle as they began to glow as well, and their bodies rose into the air, moving toward each other and meeting at a single point. Their bodies began to distort and merge, transforming into one gigantic, horrid beast.

When the light finally faded, only one gigantic Cybeast remained. Gregar's body rested on bottom, streaked with purple and orange and ending in a short, serpentine tail; from his back grew two large, red wings, each one lined with razor-tipped feathers. Its eyes, large and red, glew as it let out a massive roar, a culmination of the cries of the three original monsters.

"Finally, Gryfon is whole once again!" Colonel grinned, placing his hand on Iris's shoulder. "Well done, sis. I knew you'd be able to help out..."

He clenched her shoulder and lifted her up, flinging her behind him, where she collided heavily with a tower; she fell to the ground, motionless, as Colonel smirked. "You're not needed anymore. You're just in the way now..."

"You monster! You won't get away with this!" Megaman gritted his teeth and ran toward Colonel, brandishing the sword he'd received earlier, when Gryfon leapt from his position and landed in front of Megaman, traveling with incredible speed. Megaman yelped and backed off, as Gryfon roared again.

"I daresay I will get away with it, Megaman... as long as I have Gryfon on my side to take care of pests like you, that is." Colonel grinned evilly. "Gryfon! Destroy this interloper!"

Growling, Gryfon swiped at Megaman with a massive paw; Megaman barely managed to dodge, before a barrage of feathers flew at him, knocking him back. As Megaman fell to the ground, Colonel laughed and turned to leave, only to be met with Protoman's fist. He staggered back, holding his face and growling. "You..."

Protoman raised his Long Sword. "You won't be getting away with this. I'm going to stop you here and now!"

Colonel smirked, creating a sword of his own. "I'd like to see you try, fool! You have no hope of defeating me!"

Protoman and Colonel began to duel, as Megaman slowly stood up, looking upward at the monster standing before him.

"He's fast... and strong..." Megaman commented. "Lan, what do we do?"

"There's only one thing we can do," Lan responded, activating Megaman's HeatGuts style. "We've got to try and destroy that Cybeast!"

Megaman nodded, as his body changed to a bright orange, his Buster powering up. "Let's go!" he cried out, as he dashed at the monstrous Cybeast, ready for battle.


	26. Chapter 12: Colonel

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 2: The Sun And The Moon_

* * *

Chapter 12: Colonel

Protoman's sword clashed with Colonel's, as the two Navis continued their duel; thus far, neither warrior had achieved much of an edge, as they were rather equally matched.

"Colonel..." Protoman grumbled derisively, swinging away. "Why are you doing this? What reason do you have to want to rule this world?"

Colonel laughed, parrying Protoman's attack and rushing forward. "Why do I need a reason? I have a phenomenal power under my control, I'd be a fool not to take advantage of it!"

"So you're just another power-hungry fool, then." Protoman generated another sword and spun toward Colonel, who flipped backward. "You're just the kind of cretin I'm designed to delete." The two continued their battle, as Protoman watched Megaman fly across the arena out of the corner of his eye, crashing into a wall.

"Ugh..." Megaman rubbed his head, standing up and looking back at his monstrous opponent; he had reverted to his normal form. "Lan, how much longer until I can change again?"

"Any second now!" Lan replied, sending Megaman an Area Steal. As Gryfon charged, Megaman vanished and appeared on the arena wall behind, as an icon appeared on Lan's PET.

"Here we go, Megaman! AquaCustom Style!" Megaman flashed for a minute before changing into his light blue Custom form; Megaman smirked as Gryfon turned around, snarling, and he received a Sword from Lan.

"You may be stronger than my HeatGuts Style, but I'm sure a Life Sword or two will cut you down to size..." Megaman leaped down into the arena, receiving a Wide Sword and running in, as Gryfon charged again.

"Long Sword!" Lan slotted the chip in, and Megaman raised his swords above his head, forming the powerful Life Sword.

"Take this!" Megaman yelled, swinging the Life Sword and sending an energy blade flying at Gryfon; the Cybeast screeched to a halt and steeled itself. Right before the attack connected, its wings extended in front of it as a shield, absorbing the brunt of the Life Sword. Megaman gaped as the energy sword dissipated, leaving a nearly unscathed Gryfon behind.

"No... no way! I can't believe it!" Megaman could only stare in amazement as Gryfon roared, stretching its wings, then aiming them in Megaman's direction. Still a bit dumbfounded, Megaman has little time to react to the Cybeast's barrage of razor-tipped feathers, and he barely managed to dodge the brunt of it, receiving several small wounds to his legs.

"Gah! Ow... dammit..." Megaman held his legs, as he looked over at Gryfon, who was slowly advancing, and grimaced.

"He's so powerful..." Lan wondered aloud. "What are we supposed to do against him?"

"I don't know," Megaman replied, standing up on somewhat tender legs, upon which his hands rested. "Somehow, I'm just going to have to become... stronger..." He stopped himself as he felt something on his hip; he looked down and saw the small, circular device attached to his hip, warding off the Beast Out effects of the Cybeasts. His mind went back to the final round of the Red Sun Tournament, where Tomahawkman and Gale both Beasted Out, growing immensely strong.

"Megaman, what are you doing?" Lan prompted; Megaman didn't respond, instead grabbing the device from his side. He immediately threw it to the ground and stomped on it, shattering it into a hundred pieces.

"No! Megaman! Are you crazy?!" Chaud looked over at Lan, a bit surprised by his shouting, as Megaman stood, staring at the remnants of his protective device. An instant later, Megaman felt a familiar sense of illness wash over him, and he collapsed to the ground, feeling his legs go weak. Gryfon stopped his charge, curious, and watched as his presence washed over Megaman, who was beginning to transform.

"Aah!" Megaman cried out as feathers began to burst from his arms, which were turning into bright red wings. His body was beginning to change colors as well, to a dark purple and gray mix that matched Gryfon's fur. Megaman continued to scream in pain as claws grew from his hands, and soon his cries were replaced by roaring sounds. Upon hearing his roars, Protoman and Colonel looked over in surprise; Colonel, seeing an opportunity and moved forward, slicing deep into Protoman's side.

"Argh!" Protoman fell back, grabbing his side, as Colonel smirked and advanced. Raising his sword to attack again, Colonel was knocked away by a massive energy blast; Protoman looked over to see a snarling Megaman standing up, his buster smoking and aimed at Protoman's opponent. Without missing a beat, Megaman growled and fired another blast in Protoman's direction, instantaneous and just as powerful; Protoman barely managed to roll out of the way, looking back at Megaman, who had now turned his attention toward Gryfon.

"My god... what strength..." Protoman watched as Gryfon roared and ran toward Megaman, ready to attack. As Gryfon came within striking range, Megaman dashed forward and jumped, slamming his foot into the side of Gryfon's head. The Cybeast flew across the arena and slammed heard against the wall; Megaman, running with amazing speed, followed it and grabbed it by its foot. Letting out another roar, Megaman started spinning the massive monster around with amazing strength, letting Gryfon fly toward another wall, where Colonel and Protoman were standing and watching; both had to dive out of the way to avoid the flying Cybeast.

"Damn..." Lan muttered. "If he keeps this up, he'll destroy everything else along with the Cybeast!" He gripped his PET tightly with both hands, anxious. "Megaman! Snap out of it, please!"

Megaman faltered a bit upon hearing Lan's words. He stopped running, apparently contemplating something, before he fell to his knees and grabbed his head as if it were in great pain. Gryfon stood up and shook itself off, then stared at Megaman, enraged. It let out a deafening roar and charged once again, seeing its prey distracted.

"L... Lan..." Megaman muttered, doubled over, as the Cybeast advanced, ready to strike. It leapt at Megaman, breathing fire in his direction as its claws closed in. As Gryfon swiped at its adversary bathed in flame, an explosion of energy came from below, blasting at Gryfon and knocking it backwards once again. As the flames subsided, Megaman was standing up, breathing heavily as his buster smoked once again.

"Megaman?" Lan wondered aloud.

"Lan... I'm here," Megaman confirmed. "I'm in control again."

Lan breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't scare me like that, Megaman! That was totally crazy!"

Megaman grinned. "Sorry to worry you. I was running low on ideas..."

Lan watched an extremely angry Gryfon get back to its feet. "Well at least it paid off... you ready to take this guy down?"

Megaman nodded, looking around and seeing Protoman and Colonel, still dueling, both of them injured. "Let's finish this as quickly as we can manage, I bet Protoman could use our help."

Lan nodded, as Gryfon once again set its sights on the half-beast Megaman. By now, it had learned that charging his enemy was a bad idea, and was thinking of another way to attack. It spread its wings and swept them both in front of him, sending a wide-reaching barrage of razor-sharp feathers in Megaman's general direction. Megaman watched them come, vanishing with an Area Steal at the last minute. An instant later, the Cybeast felt a light explosion on its back; turning around quickly, it found Megaman's arm outstretched right in front of him, as Megaman fired a series of feathers straight into Gryfon's eyes.

Gryfon shrieked in pain, blinded, and breathed fire immediately in front of itself as Megaman jumped back, grinning. "That should slow it down a bit..."

Gryfon started turning in all sorts of direction, stomping about and roaring, determined to find and destroy its assailant. As it rampaged, it exuded fire and feathers in all directions, including toward Colonel and Protoman, as well as Iris's limp form. Megaman's face fell.

"Crap... that backfired completely, didn't it?" he pondered. "We've got to end this right away; let's take him out with a Program Advance, now!"

Lan nodded, getting out three Battlechips. "You ready, Megaman?"

Megaman nodded, extending his right arm, which quickly generated a Cannon. Raising his left arm, a Hi Cannon appeared; as Lan prepared to slot the final Battlechip in, though, Megaman saw Gryfon turn toward Protoman, firing a barrage of feathers and fire in his direction. Protoman rolled away, standing up to defend himself, but quickly fell back over, holding his injured side.

"Ugh..." Protoman was unable to hold his pain in, landing on the ground in front of Iris's body. Gryfon instantly turned toward the sound, preparing for another assault, before a blow from the side knocked it away and onto its side. The Cybeast stood up quickly, trying to sense the location of its attacker.

"Over here, ugly!" Megaman called out. Gryfon quickly snarled and turned toward the sound of his voice, unable to see the large Zeta Cannon that had formed on his arm, and thus unable to defend itself from the assault that followed. Megaman fired round after round directly at the Cybeast, and a series of massive explosions rang out throughout Mother Computer as Gryfon took the full force of every blast. Over the noise, a horrific mix of roars and screeches could be heard, as Gryfon disappeared behind a massive cloud of smoke.

When the blasts ended and the smoke finally cleared, the room collectively gaped at the sight in front of them. The Cybeast was lying on its side, nearly dead; major parts of its face were gone, its legs were in pieces across the arena, and several large holes had pierced themselves right through its torso. Megaman lowered his buster arm, breathing heavily.

"Unbelievable," Protoman muttered to himself. "He's... it's..."

"Impossible!" Colonel stepped forward, trying to get a better look; the Cybeast continued to lie in place, not moving. "You can't have defeated Gryfon, you miserable Navi! You can't!"

"It appears he has." Protoman stood up, pointing his sword at Colonel. "Your terror ends here, Colonel. There's nothing left for you to throw at us."

Colonel gritted his teeth, looking to Protoman, then Megaman, then the fallen Cybeast. "No... it's not over, not yet!" As Protoman tensed, Colonel suddenly disappeared; both Megaman and Protoman looked around for him, finding him standing next to the Cybeast.

"What? What are you planning?" Megaman demanded, running toward the pair. Colonel simply grinned, placing his hand on the Cybeast, and a blinding flash lit up the Cyberworld, accompanied by a deafening bang. In another corner of the arena, the shockwave of sound reached another body; finally recovering from the blow she took, Iris slowly stirred and opened her eyes, to see her brother covered in purple, orange and red streaks, emitting a light glow and tremendous power.

"What?!" Megaman exclaimed. "Where's the Cybeast?"

"You're looking at it!" Colonel declared, laughing maniacally. "Gryfon's tremendous power is now mine! You don't have any chance of victory now!"

Megaman gritted his teeth, charging up his buster. "We'll see about that!" He fired a shot directly at Colonel, the same shot that knocked him away minutes before; Colonel knocked it away as it if were a beach ball, before dashing toward Megaman and grabbing him by his neck. Megaman struggled for a moment as Colonel laughed, his hand glowing a bright white; seconds later, it exploded in a flash of light, knocking Megaman backward. As he skidded to a stop, he rubbed his sore head and tried to stand up before he came to a realization; he looked down at his hands, then his body.

"What the... I'm not part Cybeast anymore! What did he do?!"

Colonel laughed again, practically giddy at the situation, as Protoman attacked from behind. Colonel quickly wheeled around, grabbing Protoman's sword tight and lifting Protoman clean off the ground. He swung him around and let him go right at Megaman, and the two Navis collided hard, falling back to the ground. Colonel smirked and advanced on them, as they got to their feet, staring him down.

"So what do we do now..." Megaman wondered, as the superpowered Navi advanced on them.

"You got me," Protoman replied, as Colonel laughed again.

"It looks like you two are out of ideas!" Colonel taunted, raising his hand in the air. "Too bad for you, you put up quite a fight..." A glowing ball of energy appeared in his hand, growing larger and larger. "But with my new strength, you two are no match for me; no one is! Soon I will be the ruler of this world!"

As Colonel began to throw the projectile toward Protoman and Megaman, a pair of arms suddenly appeared from behind him, locking over his shoulders and holding his arms in place. Megaman blinked and moved a bit to the side, trying to see who had ensnared Colonel; when he saw who it was, his eyes went wide.

"Iris!" he exclaimed, seeing her holding onto Colonel from behind.

"You! What?!" Colonel exclaimed. "Unhand me this instant!"

"No... I won't..." Iris responded. "You're just going to hurt more people if I do. You've changed, brother..."

"If you do not unhand me, there is no force on this Earth that will spare you from my wrath!" Colonel cried out, baring his teeth. "Let me go immediately!"

"I won't!" Iris screamed, with such determination that Colonel was stunned into silence for a moment. "This can't go on any longer, Colonel! I have to stop you here!"

"Iris... what are you going to do?" Megaman inquired, as Colonel continued to struggle.

"The only thing I can do," Iris replied, holding Colonel as tightly as she could. "I'm going to self-destruct, and take him with me."

"No!" Megaman exclaimed, as Protoman stepped forward to listen in. "Iris, you can't! You don't have to do this!"

"Megaman, please..." Iris spoke more calmly, as her arms began to glow. "This is what I want." Megaman blinked, not expecting such a response, as Iris continued.

"For so long, Megaman... I've had to use my powers for evil people. Nebula and Colonel... for years and years, ever since we came to this world," Iris spoke.

"This... this world?" Megaman wondered.

"Now, I finally can use my powers the way I want to..." Iris continued, as her body started to glow as well. "And I want to use it to save the people I care about... I want to help my friends."

For the first time since Megaman had met her, he saw Iris smile.

"Iris..." Megaman spoke softly.

Iris's face became serious once again, as she started to glow brighter, electricity crackling all over her body, as well as Colonel's. "Go! Now!" Megaman nodded, as Lan jacked him out, with Protoman following soon after.

"Grrgh..." Colonel struggled as hard as he could, trying to break free of Iris's surprisingly strong grip. "This is the last time I'm going to tell you! Let me go this instant!"

"This is the end, Colonel!" Iris cried out, as her body expanded into a bright white light, one that encased Colonel and his screams, before they were silenced for good.

* * *

Hours later, Megaman was back to normal and safely in Lan's PET. He had spent most of the last few hours thinking to himself, contemplating and lamenting Iris's sacrifice; now, however, was not the time for that. He looked through the PET's screen at the outside world, where Lan was standing atop a small podium next to Chaud, as a small crowd watched from below.

Lan stood, somewhat nervous, as the crowd looked up at him; in front of both him and Chaud stood a highly appreciative Princess Pride, who was receiving a small blue box from a nearby advisor. Holding it, she walked up to Lan and Chaud, beaming.

"Lan Hikari... Eugene Chaud..." she began. "This nation owes you a great deal. Had it not been for your skills, judgment, and courage, our country would have been forced to surrender to the evil hands of Nebula and the Cybeasts. We are forever in your debt."

She opened the box to reveal two shining medals, blue ribbons topped with silver stars adorned with the national seal of Creamland. She took one and stepped forward, pinning it to Chaud's vest, whose appearance gave every indication that this was just business as usual.

"This medal represents the highest honor this country can bestow, the Blue Star of Creamland." She stepped over toward a more energized Lan, pinning one to his vest as well. "This honor is given to those who risk their lives for the sake of protecting our country from outside threats, just as you have."

She stood back, taking a good look at the two Netbattlers in front of her, still beaming. "I personally thank the both of you for your service, from the bottom of my heart. Remember that Creamland's doors are always open to you." She gave a formal curtsy to both of them, as Lan and Chaud bowed back respectfully.

* * *

"The Blue Star of Creamland... that's just phenomenal, Lan. I've neven even seen one, though I've always wanted to receive an honor like that..."

Lan grinned, sitting in the lobby of Creamland Castle some time later and talking to his father on his PET phone. "Well, this one's mine, you can't have it." Around him, government workers walked about with Electopian Officials, who had arrived to help sort out the mess. The other Netbattlers were also standing about, awaiting transport to the airport; all of them were rather eager to get themselves home, after the ordeals they had suffered, as well as the occasional broken bone.

Yuichiro smirked. "I wouldn't think of it. At least I'll get to see it for myself when you come home."

"I thought you'd be coming here, after all that's happened," Lan responded. "But you're still there?"

Yuichiro nodded. "I was going to hop the first flight to Creamland, but it sounds like you and Chaud managed to sort things out there, more or less. I decided it would be more productive just to stay here, since SciLab also needs to be sorted out."

"Yea, that's what Chaud said," Lan replied. "Officials everywhere, and the SciLab OS was deleted too, I heard."

"The Cybeasts certainly made a mess of things, yes. But we've already gotten another system in place, actually, so that should speed things up considerably."

Lan raised an eyebrow. "Really? That fast?"

"The Officials who were looking into Mother Computer found some extra data left behind and sent it over," his father explained. "We analyzed it, and found that it was extremely efficient in processing large amounts of data, so we used it as the basis of our new OS. Want to take a look?"

Lan blinked. "A... look? At an OS?" He watched as Yuichiro walked over to a nearby screen; when he turned it on, a familiar sight greeted Lan and Megaman's eyes.

"Iris!" they exclaimed at once, as Iris's face smiled at the both of them.

"There wasn't enough data left to reconstruct her frame, so we'll have to settle for this," Yuichiro continued. "She tells us that this is what Nebula was using her for, more or less, but she seems rather happy doing the same for us."

Lan grinned. "We'll have to pay her a visit when we get home, huh, Megaman?"

Megaman grinned and nodded. "You bet! We need to thank her for stopping Colonel."

"I'm sure she's looking forward to it. Your mother and I can't wait to see you, either. We're both extremely proud of what you've done, you know."

Lan nodded. "Our flight leaves in about three hours; we should be there really late tonight."

"We'll see you then." Lan turned off his phone and looked up, to see that the other Netbattlers were heading out the door; standing up, he saw that the shuttle to the airport had arrived. Stretching his arms, he began to head for the door as well.

"Lan, wait." Lan turned around, surprised, to see the Princess walking in his direction.

"Er... Princess?" Lan started.

Pride nodded, walking up rather close to Lan and leaning in. "If I may... could I ask you to hold off on departing, for now?"

"What?" Lan wondered. "But... how come?"

Princess Pride smiled. "There is one more favor I would like to ask of you... if I could just speak to you in private..." She backed away and moved toward the private quarters of the castle, smiling and beckoning for him to follow. Lan nodded, partly curious and partly nervous, as he followed her back to where no one else could see.

* * *

_Story 2: The Sun And The Moon_

_End_


	27. Story 3, Chapter 1: Rise From The Ashes

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 3_

* * *

Chapter 1: Rise From The Ashes

"You're staying another day?" Lan's mother asked.

Lan nodded. "Two more, really, I guess. One a half?" He was lying on the bed in his hotel room, which he had returned to not ten minutes ago; his belongings remained where he had left them, scattered in a generally disorganized fashion. The bedside clock read 8:13 p.m.

"I thought you were going to be home tonight. What changed? Is everyone staying there?"

"No, it's just me," Lan replied. "Princess Pride asked for my help with something. You know how Sharo's main Net City suddenly disappeared yesterday?"

Haruka nodded. "Yes, I heard about that from your father. What about it?"

"Well, earlier today, apparently the same thing happened in Whazzap. Namacchi Net City is gone, too. Now they're worried that Creamland Square is going to be attacked tomorrow."

"Hm, that makes sense," Haruka responded.

"What?!" Lan grabbed his head, exasperated. "She said the same thing! Why does that make sense? It's three completely random countries!"

His mother laughed. "The Net isn't organized in the same way as a globe, Lan; the Nets of various countries are connected in a different way. If you started in Sharo's Net and traveled in a straight line, you'd travel through Whazzap and then Creamland before you hit Electopia."

"Right..." Lan rubbed his head. "So, does everyone know that except me, or what?"

Haruka giggled. "Well, being married to your father, I end up learning these things."

"Well, anyway," Lan continued. "They've been patrolling the square for most of the day, and the Princess asked me and Megaman to help out. We'll be doing it tomorrow, too."

"They just want help patrolling the square? Why do they want you for that?"

"Gee, thanks," Lan responded. "Not like I just saved them or anything."

Haruka shook her head. "No, no, that's not what I mean. If they need help defending Cream Square, wouldn't they have asked for help from more people? And if one is all they need, why did she ask you instead of Chaud, a trained Official?"

"Er... I'm... not sure," Lan answered. He neglected to mention how Princess Pride had also invited Lan to dine with her, and the brief castle tour that followed; the whole time, the both of them talk animatedly with each other. As far as Lan could tell, the Princess simply enjoyed his company; the both of them were still children, after all, albeit older ones. He was hesitant to mention this to his mother, who would most definitely read too far into it.

"Well, whatever their reason, I'm sure it's a good one," Haruka replied. "So you'll be home on Thursday, then?"

Lan nodded. "I should be, if nothing changes."

"Well, try to enjoy yourself while you're there. It's not often you get to travel to another country, after all."

"Will do." Lan smiled. "I'll see you both on Thursday, alright?"

"See you then, sweetie. Take care." They both hung up, and Lan lay back on the bed once again, putting his PET on the bedside table and thinking to himself.

"What do you think we're supposed to be looking for, anyway?" Megaman piped up from his PET.

"Oh... uh..." Lan snapped out of a minor reverie. "I have no idea... what could be strong enough to destroy an entire Net City, with no warning or anything? I don't know if even the Cybeasts could do that..."

"It may not be a thing... maybe there's something wrong with the Net itself," Megaman offered.

Lan yawned and stretched his arms, wincing in pain for a minute; he reached down and grabbed his side, which had been wrapped in bandages for the sake of his broken rib. "Oof... well, let's just worry about that tomorrow. It's been a long day..."

"Sure has," Megaman answered, as Lan changed into pajamas. "Let's get some sleep. We can worry about what's happening when we come across it."

"Sounds good." Lan slipped under the covers and turned off the light, muttering a goodnight to Megaman before falling asleep.

* * *

The next day, Megaman found himself walking the streets of Cream Square, accompanied by an orange generic Official Navi. They had been patrolling for hours and had found nothing whatsoever out of the ordinary, and everyone involved was beginning to grow a bit annoyed with the search.

"I don't even know what we're supposed to be looking for," Megaman commented, as they turned a corner. "I've never even been here before, everything looks new to me. How am I supposed to find something out of the ordinary?"

"Just look for anything suspicious," the Official Navi recommended. "Though we probably won't have to look much longer, the day is nearly done. Both Whazzap and Sharo were attacked in the early morning. Perhaps it was just a coincidence."

"That's my guess," Megaman replied, looking over at a large gathering of Navis outside a store; the vendor was hawking some sort of convenience item, and had the crowd in a bit of a frenzy. "I don't think anything is going to be happening here. We should just give it one more sweep and-"

Megaman stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the crowd of Navis; the Official Navi nearly ran into him, surprised.

"Megaman? What's the problem?"

Megaman didn't respond, his eyes sweeping over the crowd. There was nothing there anymore... but he was positive he had seen what he did... but that was impossible all the same...

"Hold on," Megaman answered, running forward toward the other side of the street. "I need to make sure of something..."

"Megaman, what's going on?" Lan asked. He was back in the Mother Computer control room, jacked into one of the nearby terminals.

"I thought I saw something..." Megaman tried to force his way through the crowd of people, making little progress. "Maybe I'm seeing things, but I just want to make sure..." He managed to get to the other side of the throng, and several shops lay before him; he started walking along, looking around, as the Official Navi started running after him.

"Hm? Isn't that Megaman?" Inside one shop, a merchant Navi watched Megaman walk past, curious; he had only one customer in his store, and it didn't look like he was buying anything, so the merchant was wasting time by people-watching. "And an Official? What're they doing here, I wonder?" He shrugged and kept on observing the minor ruckus outside his store, until he noticed that his customer's eyes were following Megaman, as he stood in the shadows.

"Hey, you know Megaman too, eh? You been watching the big tournament? Pretty crazy ending, huh?" The Navi didn't respond, his eyes still following Megaman and the Official as they walked away.

"What's the matter, bud? Aren't you a fan of his? Why not go shake his hand?" The merchant suddenly came to a realization, and he frowned. "Wait, I know what's going on. You did something wrong and now they're looking for you! Well, you're not hiding out here, pal!"

The Navi turned from Megaman and looked at the merchant with a cold stare; the merchant temporarily lost his composure, but quickly continued. "Go on, get outta here before I call the Officials. I don't like havin' you in here."

In an instant, the mysterious Navi had dashed up to the merchant and closed his hand around his throat, lifting the merchant up into the air. "What a coincidence. I don't really like you either."

The merchant grabbed at the Navi's hand, trying to remove it, to no avail, as the Navi continued. "Why don't you make yourself useful and tell me where I can find the Creamland Castle cyber building. If you're lucky, I'll let you keep your store and your life."

"F... four blocks south... and six... east..." the merchant stammered; the Navi grinned evilly.

"That's better. You've been quite helpful." His hand loosened its grip, and the merchant fell to the floor, gasping for air. He looked up, watching the Navi leave, when he suddenly stopped moving. "Oh, and by the way..."

The Navi turned around, pointing his arm in the merchant's direction, palm outstretched. His hand started to flash a bright white light, slowly at first, but it quickly sped up, moving down his arm all the way to his brown, tattered cloak.

He smirked, as the merchant's face filled with fear. "It's not your lucky day."

* * *

Both Megaman and the Official Navi were knocked off their feet, as a nearby explosion rocked the ground nearby. Megaman quickly turned around to see what had happened, and saw a nearby shop engulfed in flames; the crowd outside started running away, screaming.

"What..." Megaman started, before some sort of black object shot out of the flaming wreckage like a rocket. He only had a split second to look at it while it was close, but there was no mistaking what it was. Megaman gaped, as it rocketed to the southeast.

"I knew it!" Megaman called out, getting to his feet and giving chase.

"What is it, Megaman?" Lan wondered from the real world. "What did you see?"

"It's Bass!" Megaman responded, following after. "He's here in Creamland and he's causing trouble!"

"What?! Bass?!" Lan exclaimed loudly, causing the Official next to him to look over, eyebrows raised. "I thought he was destroyed in the Alpha incident! What's he doing here?"

"That's what I intend to find out!" Megaman replied, as the Official Navi managed to catch up.

"That's Bass? The Navi that was working with World Three in Electopia a few months back?" Megaman nodded, and the Navi frowned. "That's not good... he's heading for the Creamland Castle cyber building!"

Megaman looked on, able to see the castle building a little ways away. "What sort of trouble could he do there?"

"That building contains the link to Creamland Castle's Cyberworld; if he got in there, there's all sorts of damage he could do! Let's move!" Megaman nodded in agreement, and the pair kept running toward the castle.

* * *

The doors to the castle cyber building burst open, flying off their hinges and into the main room; inside, a number of guard Navis steeled themselves and got into defensive positions, as a lone, cloaked Navi stood in the entrance.

"Knock, knock."

The Navi walked forward, as a number of guards quickly surrounded him in a wide circle. "Freeze! What business do you have attacking this place?"

Bass smirked. "I was just hoping to see the architecture. Is that a problem?"

"Well, you're wasting your time!" one of them called out. "Only government Navis know the passcode to get into the castle's Cyberworld, and we'll sooner be deleted than tell you!"

Bass began walking forward, and the guards raised their weapons nervously. "I have no business with your castle's Cyberworld, or with your country at all, for that matter. You have nothing of interest to me, and nothing I need."

He smirked, pointing a finger upward; on top of it, a small energy ball appeared. "I'm just delivering a message."

The circle of guards closed in, ready to attack.

* * *

A few minutes later, Megaman and the Official arrived at the castle to find the door busted in. Stepping inside, they found all the signs of a battle, including a couple of Navis that were dissolving into deletion before their eyes.

"What the devil happened in here?!" the Official exclaimed, looking around. The room was hardly demolished; if there was a battle, it had ended extremely quickly.

"It was Bass... it must have been..." Megaman looked around, quickly finding a path upward. "I'm going to check up here. See if you can find him around here." The Official nodded, and the two Navis parted ways, Megaman heading upward into the upper levels of the castle. Upon arriving at the next floor, Megaman looked around for Bass; this room seemed to be designed for tours, showing off various parts of the castle, or interesting facts about Creamland. Megaman started walking forward, trying to find perhaps a path to another room, when a sharp blow to the back of his head sent him flying and crashing into a wall.

"Not very aware of your surroundings, are you?" Megaman sat up, rubbing his head, and turned around to see Bass hovering at the other end of the room.

"You..." Megaman stood up. "What are you doing here? It's you destroying all those Net Cities, isn't it?"

"That should be obvious by now, shouldn't it?" Bass replied. "I'm sending a message to the world. Humans have double-crossed me for the last time." He backed out of the room and out a nearby window, hovering above the street, as the Official Navi ran up the stairs.

"I heard a crash!" he exclaimed. "What is-"

He was cut off, as a single purple beam of light penetrated his torso. Megaman gasped and turned toward the Official, who instantly began to dissolve away. Outside the window, Bass smirked, lowering his outstretched arm and starting to move upward.

"You're not getting away!" Megaman called out, running over to the window and looking out. He didn't see any immediate way up; he instead ran back into the room and aimed his buster up, shooting a hole in the roof of the building. He crouched down and jumped, making it onto the roof and instantly turning back toward Bass, who smirked.

"How are you even still alive?" Megaman demanded. "I thought Alpha had finished you!"

Bass smirked. "You think far too little of me, Megaman, to think that something like Alpha could destroy me."

"Last time I checked, Alpha was more powerful than you are!" Megaman shot back. "I was able to take you out with a Life Sword!"

Bass laughed. "I dare you to try the same thing again, fool."

Megaman extended his arm, receiving a Sword. "Gladly." His other arm quickly became a Wide Sword; raising his hands above his head, Lan sent over the final chip to produce the powerful Life Sword. Megaman yelled and swung it directly at Bass, the powerful energy blade moving at tremendous speed. Just before it connected, a translucent, black energy sphere appeared around Bass, dissipating the Life Sword instantly upon contact.

Megaman gaped, as Bass remained unscathed. "What... how..." Upon taking a closer look, he noticed something that was distinctly different about Bass; instead of a solid black, his skin had the somewhat jagged, square, bug-like color of another adversary Megaman had fought.

"That skin..." Something clicked in Megaman's mind. "You've... merged with Gospel somehow, haven't you? That's why you're so strong!"

"Surprisingly perceptive," Bass commented, the dark sphere around him still crackling. "Somewhere inside Alpha, our bodies merged and became one, giving me the strength I needed to escape."

Bass smirked evilly. "His bug-like capabilities certainly came in handy... now, not only can I acquire abilities from anyone and anything, but I can now corrupt and change them to suit my needs. After traveling the world for three months, I have gained powers beyond your imagination."

The sphere continued to crackle, and it even seemed as if it was growing slightly. "Take this Dark Aura of mine, for instance... normally, it would serve only to protect me from weaker attacks." Bass started to focus his body on something, and Megaman noticed the sphere certainly was growing, little by little. "With my newfound abilities, however, I have turned it into a powerful agent of destruction, obliterating anything it touches. In an instant, I can destroy Navis, computers, or even an entire Net City!"

As Bass began to laugh evilly, the aura started to grow slightly more rapidly; Megaman watched as it touched the roof of the castle building, and the material it was made out of instantly was obliterated as the Dark Aura touched it. Megaman started to back away before he felt himself hit the edge of the roof.

"Hear me well, Megaman, and take my message back to those Electopian dogs!" Bass yelled. "This is a declaration of war, against the entire human race! I will make your entire civilization crumble, and I will make every one of you traitorous wretches pay! If anyone thinks they can stop me, when I can destroy entire Net Cities on a whim, I welcome them to try!"

"Why are you doing this?!" Megaman yelled out, as the Dark Aura continued to expand. "Bass, you don't have to-"

"Bass is dead!" his opponent interrupted, the Dark Aura inching closer. "Bass was a pathetic, foolish slave to the humans, and he has been cast aside! I have been reborn, as the force that will cleanse this planet of you humans!"

His eyes narrowed. "I am Forte! And soon, the entire world will fear my name!"

He began laughing maniacally, as his aura started moving at an extremely rapid pace. Just before it enveloped Megaman's body, he vanished upward in a beam of light, having been jacked out. Forte continued to laugh as his aura swept over the entirety of Cream Square, reducing everything inside it to nothing but ash.

* * *

Lan slammed his hands on the control panel. "Damn it!" He sunk to his knees, frustrated with the situation and at himself. Behind him, he heard the Princess run into the room.

"Lan, what's happened? Cream Square is..." She stopped herself, seeing Lan kneeling on the floor, and ran over to him, kneeling next to him. "What's happened? What's wrong?"

"Forte..." Lan whispered.

Princess Pride blinked, confused.

* * *

"...I see. So that's what happened..." Princess Pride was walking with Lan to the entrance of Creamland Castle, discussing what had occurred in Cream Square. "If this Navi really was that powerful, we should be thankful he didn't decide to do more damage."

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to help," Lan offered.

"Don't be silly, you've done more than enough for us already," the Princess responded, smiling and poking at Lan's medal. "Any permanent damage was averted by you and Chaud. It'll be troublesome to sort out, but we can restore Cream Square within a month's time."

"That's good to hear. Let me know how that goes."

"I'll be in touch." They stopped in front of the entrance, where a shuttle was waiting to take Lan to his hotel, then to the airport. "It's unfortunate you can't stay longer, but I understand why you have to go."

Lan nodded. "Forte will be waiting for us in Electopia, I'm sure of it. I need to get back as soon as I can."

"Of course." Princess Pride gave a formal curtsy. "Thank you once again, for everything. Remember that you are always welcome here in Creamland."

Lan bowed back before waving goodbye, exiting the castle and climbing into the shuttle. Getting into his seat and looking out the window, he could see the Princess smiling at him, watching him leave. For a minute, Lan thought he saw something more than admiration in her smile, but decided he was reading too much into things. He put it out of his mind, as the shuttle started off for the hotel. He would be back in Electopia later that day, and needed to be prepared for the attack that would await him there.


	28. Chapter 2: Forte's Shadow

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 3: The Rise And Fall Of Forte_

* * *

Chapter 2: Forte's Shadow

Dr. Hikari sat at his computer, sipping at a cup of coffee with one hand while typing with the other. It had been a full month since Forte destroyed Cream Square, and life had generally settled down in Electopia. While many SciLab workers were breathing sighs of relief, Dr. Hikari remained unnerved, and found himself doing bits and pieces here and there in addition to his work.

As soon as Lan returned from Creamland, he had gone to SciLab to see what was being done in anticipation of Forte's arrival. Den Net City had been evacuated, under the guise of emergency maintenance, and a number of security measures had been introduced to try and detect, or stall, Forte's arrival. Once he arrived, they had developed devices that they had hoped would neutralize his black aura, leaving him vulnerable to attack. Lan and Megaman had been prepared to step in and assist around the time of his arrival, after going home to get a good night's sleep.

After all their preparation, they had waited patiently for Forte's assault, but when the day had passed, nothing had come at all. They waited for another day, and another, but after nearly a week of "emergency maintenance", there hadn't been the slightest disruption in Den Net City, or anywhere in Electopia that they could detect. After all of Forte's talk, he was nowhere to be found. They had no choice except to reopen Den Net City, while still keeping a number of the security measures in place.

For the next few weeks, all remained calm, and life returned to normal for the most part. Lan began the sixth grade with his friends, and celebrated his twelfth birthday shortly thereafter. Dr. Regal, after being treated for minor physical and psychological injuries, returned to his research at SciLab alongside Dr. Hikari. Iris proved to be quite effective at managing SciLab's operations, and became rather friendly with most of the staff.

Dr. Hikari, however, did not properly regain his calm with the rest. Rather than relax, he had merely grown more cautious, and had been spending a portion of his time investigating. For weeks, he had been scoping out various parts of Electopia's network, trying to locate any damage he may have inflicted, any traps he may have set; every time, he had come up clean. Thus, unable to find any clues in the present, he decided to look for them in the past.

Drinking his coffee, he searched through a SciLab database for the information he was looking for, navigating the computer skillfully with one hand. Before too long, he managed to find the file he was looking for and opened it; as he did, the word "Bass" showed up on his screen, in large letters. He looked at it and thought to himself for a second, before leaning forward and typing away; when he was done, the file read "Bass/Forte". Satisfied, he leaned back again and began to read.

* * *

"Ugh..." Lan groaned and rolled over in his bed, tired but unable to sleep; the sunlight shining through his blinds didn't help matters any. He curled up in the blankets, his stomach upset and his head pounding. "Gah, it's no use. I can't sleep..."

"I'm sorry," Megaman offered from the PET on Lan's bedside table, as Lan yawned. "If a human virus is anything like a compter virus, that must be pretty rough."

Lan chuckled. "Yea, feels like I've got Mettools digging in my stomach. Urgh..." He rolled over on his back again. "Of all the days to get sick, it had to be a day where I actually wanted to be at school."

"What were you guys supposed to be doing? You certainly seemed excited yesterday."

Lan frowned. "That's just it, I have no idea. Ms. Mari just said that we'd be doing something really cool, with some new technology... she never said what it was."

Megaman shrugged. "Well, I'm sure Mayl or Dex will tell you about it once school lets out."

"Yea, and they're probably going to brag about it or something." Lan thought to himself for a minute. "Though maybe there's a way I can find out earlier..." He reached over and grabbed his PET, as Megaman smirked.

"Let me guess, you want me to get into the school network and show you what they're doing?" Lan nodded, and Megaman smiled. "Sure, why not. I was starting to get bored anyway."

Lan stood up and walked over to his computer, pulling out his PET's jack-in cable and plugging it in; he walked backward from there, running the cable back over to his bed and lying down. "Let me know when you're there, okay, Megaman?"

"Sure thing," Megaman responded, as he hurried off toward the school network.

* * *

_Bass originally came into existence under unusual circumstances. His complete frame was synthesized during a SciLab experiment that took place on September 5, 2069, regarding the combination of EM waves and normal network structures; upon his arrival, he had no data regarding his past or his identity, as if he were a newborn child. His sudden creation remains a mystery, as all scientists involved in the experiment concluded that his frame was not constructed from any combination of elements that were used in the original experiment._

_The supervising scientists decided to run experiments on the Navi to determine its origin and construction, but attempts to collect him for this purpose proved disastrous, as he dispatched a squad of Official Navis with little to no difficulty before retreating deeper into the SciLab computers. After an emergency meeting to determine what course of action to take, Dr. Mikhail Sergeyevich Cossack, director of the Navigator Research Lab, agreed to take Bass into his charge; further experiments involving EM waves were put on hold indefinitely awaiting the full results of Cossack's analysis._

_Over the next 71 days, Dr. Cossack conducted a series of experiments designed to measure Bass's capabilities, with extraordinary results. His strength was leaps and bounds above any Navi SciLab had managed to produce, but more impressive was its cognitive abilities and artificial intelligence, which seemed to be roughly equivalent to that of the human brain. Both of these factors were studied vigorously by Dr. Cossack, and the results of his analyses were applied to future generations of Navis, improving their strength and autonomy. With the influence of Bass, Navi research expanded greatly during this period, notably the research of Dr. Yuichiro Hikari and Dr. Lucius Regal, while Net technology was put on the back burner, and EM wave research was scrapped entirely for the next 13 years._

_It was these cognitive capabilities that Dr. Cossack aimed to develop to their fullest. He worked to develop Bass's moral compass, wanting to observe the extent of his mental faculties; continual reports suggested that Bass's intelligence was equivalent to a human's, though he had a naturally violent disposition, something Dr. Cossack worked to correct. 33 days into his observations, Cossack created a mechanism which allowed Bass to acquire and duplicate the abilities of Navis or other machines that he came into contact with, named the "Get Ability" program; Cossack felt that this would encourage Bass to develop his problem-solving capabilities._

_After 71 days, the experiment stage ended abruptly when Dr. Cossack inexplicably handed Bass over to the Electopian military, for the purpose of weapons testing and simulation. Cossack left SciLab shortly thereafter, and would later develop Navi Customizer technology for the IPC Corporation. Bass would remain with the military for the next three months, until the appearance of the two Cybeasts, Gregar and Falzar._

* * *

"Lan, I've arrived!" Megaman announced, arriving at the network for P.S. 118, the public school that educated most of the children of AC/DC Town, as well as a couple other suburbs. "Alright, class 5-A, where are you..."

Lan sat up in bed, grabbing his PET and looking into the screen, hoping to get a glimpse of the day's lesson. "I bet if you get into the blackboard you could look out... or maybe the security camera..."

"Hacking a security camera sounds like a pretty good way to get in trouble, Lan," Megaman warned, heading toward the classrooms. "The blackboard will... ah, here we go." Megaman found the entrance to classroom 5-A's Net space and made his way to the blackboard, taking a look out; Lan strained to see.

"What's going on? It looks like they're just doing math drills..."

Megaman took another look at the blackboard, looking at the writing. "Math drills, 10:30... at 11:00, she just has three question marks written here, you think that's it?"

"Probably," Lan replied, sighing. "So we're a half-hour early, huh..."

"Ah well." Megaman walked away from the blackboard and toward the hallway, a bit bored. "I wonder what I can do to kill some time around heURK!"

Megaman was cut off by a hand closing tightly around his throat, lifting him off the ground. Megaman grabbed at the hand, gasping and turning, trying to see his assailant, a rather dark-colored Navi in ninja garb.

"Y-you!" Megaman managed to exclaim, as Lan's eyebrows raised in surprise. Shadowman threw Megaman to the ground, where he massaged his throat. "Shadowman... what are you doing here?"

"You and I have unfinished business," Shadowman replied simply, walking toward Megaman as he stood up. "Our last battle was interrupted, rather rudely."

Megaman glared at Shadowman. "Waiting at school to attack me... you couldn't have just sent an e-mail, could you?"

Shadowman chuckled. "If you had been forewarned, that would have made it more difficult to delete you. My client would be rather unhappy in that instance."

"Client..." Megaman's eyes widened, and he took a step back, as Lan ran to his desk to get his chip folder. "Someone wanted you to delete me? But who?"

"I've been ordered by a certain person to eliminate any Navi that may interfere with his plans," Shadowman replied, pulling kunai from his belt. "How many enemies have you and your operator made over the past several months, Mr. Hero of Creamland?" He disappeared, emerging behind Megaman and throwing his kunai, which Megaman barely managed to dodge.

"Too many," Megaman answered, as he transformed into his Aqua Custom style and received a Vulcan Cannon. "If I defeat you here, you get to tell me who sent you."

Shadowman smirked, and the two Navis dashed at each other in the hallway.

* * *

_On the evening of February 13, 2070, the Cybeasts Gregar and Falzar appeared mysteriously in End Net City, and immediately began causing wanton destruction. SciLab's efforts to incapacitate the Cybeasts were fruitless, and they turned to the prototype cybernetic weaponry supplied by Bass and the Electopian military. These weapons were effective in stopping the Cybeasts' advances, but failed to sufficiently damage or weaken them. The two sides eventually found themselves at a standstill in the Sky Town area of Cyber City; at this point, the military decided to send in Bass to tip the scales._

_The addition of Bass to the Electopian forces was initially extremely effective, and the Cybeasts were being weakened; after three hours of combat, however, the Cybeasts began cooperating and effectively demolished most of the weaponry used. Shortly after this, Bass unleashed an extremely powerful suicide attack that crippled a portion of the Sky Town Net with its strength. Both Cybeasts were heavily incapacitated to the point where they could be captured and placed in stasis; they were relocated to SciLab for further study._

_No trace of Bass was found after this assault. SciLab presumed he had been completely destroyed, but Bass was spotted again on October 2, 2080, apparently assaulting and mugging a group of Navis. Official Navis were immediately dispatched in great numbers to delete or capture him, but Bass managed to escape, despite being heavily damaged, and continued to elude capture for several months, despite intense searching by Official Netbattlers. His sudden appearance and change in demeanor is currently unexplained._

_Bass later encountered former SciLab scientist and World Three leader Dr. Albert Wily, and agreed to lend his assistance in the Alpha Incident of 2084; it is unknown when the two met, but Bass and Wily had been working together for at least 18 months, according to former World Three operative Iroaya Madd. During this period, Bass was mostly used to infiltrate government Net spaces and steal experimental programs that would eventually create the parasitic Alpha. After Wily betrayed Bass and used his power to create Alpha, Bass attacked said organism but was quickly absorbed, along with the viral beast Gospel. After Alpha's destruction, neither he nor Gospel resurfaced, and he is currently presumed deleted._

_Until now... _Dr. Hikari thought; he stopped, having read what he wanted to. If there was anything he was more sure of now, it was how little they truly knew about this mysterious Navi. After being sold out by Cossack, he had given his life for his country, then was mugging Navis ten years later; four years after that, he disappeared for three months, then returned with power that made his original strength seem insignificant, bent on destroying the human race. It didn't make sense.

He sat back and rubbed his forehead. This research had been a complete waste of time; it was clear that there was too much about Forte's past that nobody knew, and he would never be able to deduce what Forte was currently up to. No human had such strange transitions, and it was easy to tell that Forte was just as intelligent as a human being, instead of having a pre-programmed personality like most custom Navis. Megaman's intelligence was understandable, given his construction, but Forte was a complete mystery. That seemed to sum Forte up pretty well, he thought to himself.

He sighed and leaned forward, entering edit mode once again and beginning to type: _neither he nor Gospel resurfaced until August 7, 2084, in Cream Square..._

* * *

Megaman vanished, dodging a series of shuriken with an Area Steal; he reappeared behind Shadowman, swinging with dual Wide Swords, and managed to slice Shadowman's leg. Shadowman jumped back, retaliating with wildly thrown kunai, which were easily dodged.

Shadowman reached down and placed a paper bomb on his leg; it burst into a tiny flame, cauterizing his wound. "Not bad, Megaman, but this is just getting started."

"Wrong." A voice rang out, causing both Megaman and Shadowman to look up. "This is ending now."

"Forte?!" Lan exclaimed, as Megaman took a defensive stance. "What is he doing here? He's been gone for weeks!"

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Shadowman, but I am not paying you to have fun. I need this job over and done with. My plans do not need any meddlesome Navis acting as distractions."

Shadowman folded his arms. "You hired me because I am the best. I don't need impatient clients telling me how to do my job."

"I thought you might say that," Forte's voice answered. "So instead, I'll direct this toward Megaman."

"Me?" Megaman wondered, looking around and trying to find the source of the voice.

"I've planted a bomb in this school, controlled from the Net. If you still exist five minutes from now, I kill every child and teacher currently in attendance."

"No!" Megaman exclaimed. "That's dirty pool, Forte! You can't do that!"

"I assure you, I can," Forte replied. "I knew you'd give me difficulties, and I'm not afraid to use force to get the results I want. Oh, and don't try the telephone, you'll find it won't work."

"Still ruthless as always, Forte..." Shadowman mused, as Megaman clenched his fist in anger.

"I expect your return in ten minutes, Shadowman. Don't fail me." Forte's voice cut out. Immediately, Megaman dashed toward Shadowman, burying his knee in Shadowman's gut and knocking him backwards.

"I don't care what you have planned, Shadowman, this battle's over! I'm not letting Forte destroy this place!" Megaman immediately took off down the hallway, in search of the bomb. Shadowman slowly stood up, watching Megaman run off.

"Foolish Megaman... you think you can save the day all by yourself, just like before." Shadowman armed his shurikens and took off after Megaman, as they raced down the corridors of the school's Net space.


	29. Chapter 3: Descent Of Darkness

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 3: The Rise And Fall Of Forte_

* * *

Chapter 3: Descent Of Darkness

Megaman raced along the Cyberworld of Lan's school, looking in all directions as he traveled. Just as Forte had said, any attempts to contact the school faculty or staff had been fruitless; he would have no choice but to find the bomb himself and attempt to disarm it, something he knew nothing about.

"Found anything, Megaman?" Lan asked nervously. "Any clues, anything?"

"I can't take a close look anywhere like I need to!" Megaman responded, a bit exasperated and looking behind. "Shadowman is-"

Megaman stopped abruptly, turning around. He'd thought he was being chased by Shadowman, but his assailant was nowhere to be seen. He looked all around him, cautious, but found no trace of Shadowman. "What... where is he?"

"Who cares?" Lan replied. "We still need to find that thing!"

Megaman nodded and started exploring more thoroughly, checking every nook and cranny as quickly as he could manage. "Where would it be, anyway? I'm not even sure how a network bomb is supposed to cause trouble in the real world, I don't know how these things work..."

"I can open a browser, try and find out," Lan said, moving to his computer; a browser was less efficient at obtaining data than a Navigator, but it would do in this instance.

"Let me know what turns up," Megaman replied, continuing his rather fruitless search, as Lan searched online for the details of network-based explosives. Searching quickly, he managed to find a promising source of information; when he tried to open it, however, a large, colorful roadblock popped up.

"THE NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR HAS BARRED ACCESS TO THIS CONTENT. PLEASE TRY ANOTHER WEBSITE," the page declared. Lan slammed his fists on the desk.

"Damn it, Dad!" he declared angrily. "Stupid parental controls, does he think I'm going to blow up the house?"

"Lan, what are you doing up there?" his mother called out from the floor below.

"Just... playing a game!" Lan replied, turning his attention back to his PET. "No dice, Megaman, I'm not allowed to read that stuff!"

"Darn it... what do we do now?" Megaman took another look around, and something managed to catch his eye. He skidded to a stop and looked at the wall; amidst the various data lines that gave the wall its tech-like texture, there was a tiny, nearly invisible purple one that seemed rather out of place.

"What's this?" Megaman followed the line back a little ways, where it entered a classroom; he traced it all the way up to the digital blackboard. "This definitely isn't part of the blackboard, it's like it was soldered on or something."

"You think Forte has anything to do with it?" Lan wondered, as Megaman started following it in the other direction. As he followed it along the wall, he saw that there were other, similar data lines joining it, each one leading into another classroom.

"That would make sense," Megaman replied, continuing on. "Attacking every blackboard at once, maybe making them explode..."

"Ugh, I don't want to think about that." Lan grimaced, imagining a torrent of shrapnel flying toward a class full of students. "Better find it quick, Megaman! We have one and a half minutes!"

Megaman nodded and started running faster, keeping his eye on the mysterious data line; it eventually took him to the network for the basement, and a number of staff-only areas. The security programs that usually blocked this area off, but there wasn't a single one to be found; Megaman had no doubt this was Forte's doing as well. After another few seconds, Megaman found a large, wire-covered device in the distance in front of him.

"Lan, I've found it!" Megaman took another look, running right up to it; he didn't know what a bomb was supposed to look like, but it had a number of wires surrounding it, and all the purple lines were connected to it. Looking on the side, he found a timer counting down; it was at 83 seconds.

"So... what do we do now?" Lan wondered, trying to find how to defuse a bomb through his browser, and once again coming up empty-handed.

"I don't know," Megaman responded. "I need to try and figure out how this works, somehow..." As he reached out to touch one of the wires, he retracted it quickly as a kunai flew right by him, slicing the wire in half as it missed his hand. He turned quickly to find Shadowman standing a few yards behind.

"Darn it!" Megaman yelled, recreating his sword. "I don't have time to deal with you!"

"Of course you do." Shadowman dashed forward, and Megaman jumped back. He aimed his buster at Shadowman, ready to attack, but stopped short. Shadowman had stopped chasing after him, but instead turned to the bomb; pulling out two short daggers, he began to slice away at a number of wires outside of the bomb, before cutting a hole in the side. He then pulled out three kunai and threw them, one after the other, inside the explosive, before finally putting his daggers away. The bomb made a series of beeping sounds, then the timer halted, before the numbers disappeared.

"Wha... why..." Megaman was at a loss for words for a moment, before regaining his composure. "What are you doing? Did you just disarm that?"

Shadowman nodded. "I do not need to bow to the whims of an impatient, demanding client. I am the best, and I am perfectly capable of carrying out my mission my own way."

He drew his own sword and took a stance. "I intend to finish the battle we started on the airplane, for my own sake as much as Forte's. I've been looking forward to defeating you in battle."

Megaman smirked and got himself ready to fight. "How noble of you, Shadowman. Don't worry, you want a fight, you'll get one!"

The two ran forward, prepared to strike, when Shadowman found himself suddenly flung upward. Megaman screeched to a stop, staring upward at a thin yet tall tornado that had sprung out of the ground, launching his opponent skyward. As Shadowman tried to orient himself, Megaman saw a strange Navi appear above, slamming his fists into Shadowman's torso and sending him back toward the ground, where he landed painfully.

"Shadowman!" Megaman ran over to him, as Shadowman slowly got to his feet; both looked up at the mysterious interloper, who was slowly descending to the ground. He was powerfully built, his torso a mix of black and white, and had gray, plane-like wings protruding from his back; his hair was large, blue and wild, and he wore a red mask on his face, with an unusually long nose. Most disturbing of all, however, was the strange aura that surrounded him; it was as if he was exuding pure darkness, somehow.

"As Forte suspected, your arrogance and pride have led to your betrayal," the Navi spoke. "Nobody defies Forte and lives to tell the tale."

"Tenguman..." Shadowman stood up, his hand at his hip, ready to strike with one of his weapons. "What are you doing with Forte? Last I saw you, you were training with Feng Tian in Cyber City."

Tenguman stared harshly. "Forte has given me incredible strength, and liberated me from the shackles of my own morality. He has gained access to that dark power..."

"You mean he corrupted you," Shadowman responded, as Megaman looked back and forth between the two of them. "You're no better than a mindless virus now, and you don't even realize it."

Tenguman frowned. "Keep talking, Shadowman. You're about to see how inferior you are." Staying where he was, he began to spin in place, counterclockwise, with increasing speed. As he became a blur, strong winds started moving inward toward the spinning Navi, and Megaman had to fight to keep from being pulled in. As the winds became stronger, he found himself launched off his feet and toward Tenguman; his opponent's strong arm slammed into the side of his head, knocking him away, but the winds immediately brought him right back. Tenguman's second blow hit him powerfully in the gut, and he fell to the ground a few yards away.

"Oww..." Megaman sat up slowly, then quickly ducked to avoid Shadowman, who had been flung in his direction. He pulled out his buster and fired repeated shots at Tenguman, as he stood up, recreating his sword yet again; a small whirlwind appeared in front of Tenguman, catching the buster shots and flinging them about the Cyberworld. Megaman dashed forward, ready to attack with his blade, but was caught off guard as Tenguman's nose suddenly extended greatly, striking him powerfully in the gut once again.

"Oof!" Megaman fell backward, as Shadowman made another attempt to attack Tenguman. "What the hell? Was that his nose?"

Lan rubbed his head. "A nose strike was enough to knock you down? What kind of Navi is this?" Both he and Megaman watched as Shadowman attacked repeatedly with his blade, having shunned his projectile weapons; Tenguman effortlessly dodged his every attack, quickly reaching out and grabbing Shadowman's blade on the last swing. Holding it in his hand, he clenched his fist tightly, and the blade shattered from the sheer force of his grip.

"Im... impossible!" Shadowman barely had time to be surprised before a knee to his gut sent him flying backwards. As Tenguman outstretched his hand, forming another tornado, Megaman received a Mega Cannon from Lan and started charging it up, hoping to catch his opponent off guard. Making sure that Tenguman was firmly standing in place, he fired a shot directly at him, only to have Tenguman leap into the air at the last instant.

"Damn it!" Megaman cursed, watching Tenguman fly up and above the suspended Shadowman, clasping his hands together. Tenguman flew back downward, slamming his elbows powerfully into Shadowman's chest; Shadowman's eyes bulged out as he flew into the ground, and upon landing, he didn't get back up. Both Megaman and Lan were at a complete loss, as Tenguman flew back down to stand in front of Megaman, his aura of darkness stronger than ever.

"You might as well surrender now, Megaman," Tenguman warned, staring Megaman down. "There is no power that can rival this darkness. Nebula knows that, and so does Forte... and now, so do you."

"You know this is just a waste of time, right?" Megaman taunted. "What's to stop Lan from restoring me from backup after this?"

Tenguman laughed. "Nice try, Megaman. But Forte knows far more about you than you realize... he knows that you are one Navi that can never be backed up properly, and he knows why."

"W-what?!" Megaman stepped back, as Lan's eyes went wide. "How does he know that?!"

Tenguman stepped forward in response. "He didn't relay that to me... let's just say it's enough that he knows. If you fail here, you won't be back to case him any more trouble."

"Grr..." Megaman clenched his fist, getting highly frustrated. "I won't let you get away with this, I don't care how strong you are!" He dashed forward, ready to attack; Tenguman snorted, and his nose extended once again, striking Megaman on the side of his neck. Megaman's eyes widened, and he fell onto his face, surprised.

"Megaman! Are you alright?" Lan inquired, anxious, as Megaman tried to get up but failed.

"Unh... my legs... they're not working..."

"Don't bother getting up," Tenguman interjected, walking over to Megaman. "Your legs are done for, and so are you." He grabbed Megaman by his upper arm and flew upward, far higher than he had moved before, nearly reaching the limits of the school's Cyberworld; he immediately turned around and started flying down toward the ground, prepared to slam Megaman into it as a finishing move. Megaman struggled to get free, as his mind raced; he looked over at Tenguman, trying to find any sort of potential weak spot. His eyes suddenly lit up with an idea.

Megaman formed another Mega Cannon on his arm, aiming it at Tenguman. Before Tenguman could react, Megaman fired the powerful blast directly at Tenguman's wings, shattering them completely.

"What?! What are you doing?!" Tenguman demanded, as the two of them started to speed up, his descent going completely out of control.

"I'm ending this fight!" Megaman declared; as they continued to descend and spee up, he formed one more Long Sword, nearly exhausting the limits of his Custom style. Right before they hit the ground, Megaman yanked his arm away from Tenguman as hard as he could, rotating them in midair so Megaman was underneath, and he pointed his sword skyward.

The two crashed into the ground with incredible force, causing a shockwave that knocked Shadowman some yards away and practically crushing Megaman's frame. Groaning in pain, he looked over at the Navi that had landed on top of him; Tenguman was lying face-down on top of Megaman, speared through the chest on his Long Sword. Moments later, Tenguman's body dissolved and blew away as he was deleted.

"Ow..." Megaman tried to move his body, managing to sit up the tiniest bit, resting on his one good arm. "Lan... looks like I did it..."

"Megaman, you're alright!" Lan exhaled, holding his chest. "Don't scare me like that!" Megaman grinned and looked around, seeing Shadowman slowly get to his feet over to his left. Looking over to his right, Megaman blinked as he noticed something that hadn't been there before.

"Look, there's some chip data he's left behind... but it's got that dark aura..." Megaman reached out to grab it.

"If I were you, I would stay as far away from that as you can." Megaman looked over to see Shadowman walking in his direction. "That chip data is extremely dangerous. You only saw its benefits, you don't know the damage it does."

Megaman looked over at it, not doubting its potency. "Well, I shouldn't leave it here. I'll take it to SciLab, see what they can do with it."

"Suit yourself." Shadowman turned away. "I guess this means my contract has been terminated..."

Megaman looked over at him again. "So I guess we're not enemies anymore, huh?"

"I don't have enemies, nor do I have friends," Shadowman responded. "I merely have clients, and targets... though I suppose I could make room for a rival."

Megaman smirked. "What are you saying exactly?"

Shadowman looked back. "I'm saying to watch your back." He teleported away in a beam of light, as Megaman turned back to the chip data; he grabbed it in his hand right before Lan returned Megaman to his PET.

Inserting a blank chip into the PET, Megaman placed the chip data into it, and the chip popped back out; Lan took it out and looked at it. The label had attained a dark purple color, with a strange symbol in the center.

"Weird... doesn't look pleasant, whatever it is..."

"We should take it to your Dad," Megaman offered, feeling better as the PET began to repair his frame.

"We can do it later..." Lan lay back on his bed, putting his hand on his head. "Now that that battle's over, I'm feeling worse than ever..."

"Yea... we should both get some rest," Megaman responded. Lan nodded, putting his PET back on his bedside table and slipping under his covers.

* * *

"That was the best class ever!" Dex declared later, as he rode home from school on a cable car with Mayl and Yai.

"Definitely," Yai concurred. "I've seen a lot of neat technologies, but never anything like that!"

"It's too bad Lan couldn't be there," Mayl added. "Staying at home all day, he was probably bored out of his mind."

"Maybe we can go visit him?" Yai offered.

"Let's do it!" Dex exclaimed. "I can't wait to rub it in his face!" The three laughed, as they were taken away from school, oblivious to the fate they had barely escaped.


	30. Chapter 4: Frostbite

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 3: The Rise And Fall Of Forte_

* * *

Chapter 4: Frostbite

"A Dark Chip?"

"That's what my dad said," Lan responded to Mayl, as they walked with Dex down the sidewalk of downtown Den City. It was the weekend after Forte's reappearance, and Lan was quickly bringing the other two up to speed.

"I've heard of those!" Dex chimed in, stepping forward a bit. "Chisao says there are a lot of them in Netopia, at his school!" He was referring to his younger brother, who lived in Netopia with Dex's mother; unlike Mayl's parents, Dex's mother and father were separated.

"At his school? Seriously?"

Dex nodded. "I guess Nebula's a lot bigger in Netopia and they're really easy to find. Chisao says some of the kids in his school use them to power up their Navis, then throw them away and get new ones."

"That's horrible!" Mayl exclaimed. "They just throw the Navi away?"

"They probably have to," Lan exclaimed, remembering what had happened the previous day.

* * *

"Hey, Dad!" Lan had walked into his father's office, where Dr. Hikari was watching a large computer screen, as several younger men and women were typing at various nearby consoles; Lan recognized them as graduate students.

"Lan?" Yuichiro turned around to face his son. "Hey there! How're you doing?"

"Feeling better," Lan replied, walking over. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure, what's up?"

Lan reached into his pack and pulled out the chip Tenguman had left behind. "Have you ever-"

Lan was abruptly cut off as his father snatched the chip away, staring at it with wide eyes. "Lan! Where on earth did you get this?!"

Lan didn't expect that reaction, but quickly explained what had happened the previous day as Yuichiro listened intently; when Lan finished, Yuichiro was rubbing his forehead.

"Unbelievable... Lan, you _have_ to tell me this stuff as soon as it happens," he commented. "Forte appears, and he's wielding Dark Chips, and we had absolutely no idea..."

"Dark Chips?" Lan wondered, as Dr. Hikari walked over to his personal computer, which was extremely high-end and built into the room, with a screen covering a small portion of the wall. He sat down in his chair, looking closely at the chip.

"They're special chips that are manufactured by Nebula," Yuichiro explained, as he brought his computer out of standby. "They're like normal Battlechips, they give your Navi weapons, but they're extremely powerful. A Dark Sword chip would be six times the strength of a normal Sword, for example."

"Holy cow." Lan took another look at the chip, as if he was trying to see its strength, before his father inserted it into a device on the desk.

"The problem is, that power comes at a cost." Yuichiro started navigating his computer, trying to find a certain program. "The Navi's program deteriorates with each use, and after enough Dark Chips, the Navi falls apart completely. Often times, though, the Dark Chip affects the Navi's control program and it breaks away from its operator."

"So it's like the Dark Chip makes Navis evil or something," Lan commented, looking at the screen.

"You could say that. Certainly doesn't stop people from using them, though. If you go on some parts of the Net in Netopia or Yumland, you'll run into a fair amount of Dark Navis. They tear each other apart... ah, here we go." Dr. Hikari opened up the program he was looking for, and the computer ran a quick analysis; when it was done, a massive amount of text flooded the screen, and Lan didn't understand any of it. His father, however, clearly did.

"Now that's odd..." Yuichiro rubbed his chin. "This chip wasn't made by Nebula at all."

Lan stared at the screen, having no idea how he managed to figure that out. "Er... it's not?"

"Not at all," Yuichiro answered. "It's a Dark Chip, as far as I can tell, but Nebula didn't make it, and that makes no sense. As far as we know, Nebula is the only mass producer of Dark Chips in the world."

"Maybe Forte found a way to make them?" Lan thought back to his battle with Tenguman, where his enemy mentioned Forte accessing a dark power.

"I certainly hope not." Yuichiro rubbed his forehead. "The government has been trying to keep Dark Chips out of Electopia, and this is just going to make it harder. Let's hope it's just a fluke..."

* * *

"You mean Forte sent a Dark Navi just to attack Megaman?" Mayl asked, unnerved, as the trio walked past a poster proclaiming the return of Mr. Famous to Electopia; one of the world's top Netbattlers, Mr. Famous was looked up to by many school-age Netbattlers, and he would be holding an exhibition in a couple day's time.

Lan nodded, a tad hesitant; he hadn't told anyone except his father about the bomb and Shadowman, and he wasn't about to tell these two. "He said that Megaman would be in the way... I don't know why, though, Forte's stronger than Megaman right now..." Megaman grumbled in response from Lan's hip, and Dex grinned.

"Still, that's pretty cool, when you think about it. Your Navi is so strong that you're scaring bad guys!"

Lan laughed. "I guess that is kinda neat, huh?"

"How can you say that?!" Mayl retorted. "I think it's awful... you could end up really hurt if this keeps up." She folded her arms and held herself tight.

"Oh, come on, Mayl, don't get upset..." Lan sighed.

"I'm not that upset," Mayl responded, shivering a little. "It's just getting really cold..."

Lan, becoming more aware of his surroundings, also folded his arms, followed by Dex. "Wow, it is... really cold. But there's not even any wind, what's going on?"

"I dunno," Dex answered. "Just got cold out of noWHAUGH!" Dex yelped as his legs slipped out from under him, and he fell onto the sidewalk on his back, sliding a little bit.

"Whoa! You alright?" Lan and Mayl stepped in front of Dex, grabbing his hands and helping him back up.

"What the heck was that?" Dex said, rubbing his head painfully, as Lan looked down at the ground.

"It's ice..." He slid his foot back and forth. "What the heck is going on? This can't be natural, is someone pulling some prank?" Mayl took a step back, then dashed forward, sliding several yards on the ice while trying to maintain her balance; on the other side of the street, pedestrians were watching them curiously while shivering.

"The ice stops right over here," she observed, stepping back onto more steady ground; looking back, she saw that the ice was in one large patch, on the sidewalk, street, and part of the large department store next to them, as if it were a gigantic spill of some sort. Lan and Dex slid across to join her.

"There's another ice patch, down the street," Lan observed, as he saw other pedestrians slipping and sliding on it. "This is so weird..." They rounded a corner, heading toward Higsby's, and stopped right in their tracks. Just about one block in front of them, a mysterious blue humanoid being was standing and looking at a nearby building. It was exuding a strange, light-blue aura, and it appeared as if its entire body was made of ice or crystal. While it was relatively short, it had tall, wild, icy hair, and around its neck was a regal-looking cloak, as if he were royalty.

The trio watched the strange ice man raise his hand, pointing at the side of the building. They could see a sheet of ice start to form, spreading outward from the center; he eventually put his hand down, after a large circle of ice had formed on the wall and sidewalk.

"How is he doing that...?" Mayl wondered aloud. "I don't know how..."

The being, apparently hearing her, turned in their direction. Its eyes were like circular, black crystals, and in the middle of his chest was a small, oval-shaped, purple jewel. It, too, was exuding its own aura, one that was all too familiar to Lan at this point. The ice being seemed to see something it recognized, as well.

"Guys... I think we should run," Lan muttered, starting to step back.

"But..." Dex started. The ice man started to hover above the ground, his blue aura glowing higher; leaving a large plume of frosty air behind him, he started to glide through the air at the three children.

"Run!" Lan yelled, pulling the both of them around the corner, as the ice man blasted by, gliding right past them and across the street, in his haste. They ran down the sidewalk, turning and entering the first door they saw; Lan turned and slammed it behind him, just as a blast of ice sealed it shut. The ice man glided up to the door, watching as the trio ran up an escalator and out of sight onto the next floor.

"Frostman, what's going on?" demanded a voice in the being's ear.

"I've made an interesting discovery, Forte," Frostman responded. "I think I've come across Megaman's operator, here in Den City. Do you need him deleted, too?"

"He's not important," Forte responded. "Megaman is the only one that has to be deleted."

"With all due respect, I don't think Megaman is going to be a match for me, let alone yourself."

"That's completely besides the point," Forte replied. "I have my reasons for wanting him deleted. I've spent time observing his life, and now I must observe his death."

Frostman nodded, not daring to argue. "Well, do you have any reason to keep his operator alive?"

"None at all. Do as you please with him."

Frostman grinned. "Yes, sir."

* * *

Lan sat down on a bench on the second floor, out of breath. "Is he still following us?"

Dex looked around the floor, as well as down the escalator; he, too, was a bit winded. "I don't see him... I think he's given up."

Mayl leaned against a nearby wall, looking over at Lan. "Lan... what was that? You acted like you knew him..."

Lan shook his head. "I don't know who he is, but he's a NetNavi, that much I know."

"A Navi?" Mayl's eyebrows raised. "But that's impossible!"

"That jewel on his chest, it was glowing like a Dark Chip," Lan replied. "I don't know what he's doing here, but I'm pretty sure it's a Navi..."

Mayl leaned back again, still shivering a bit. "This is like a nightmare... how can any of this really be happening?" She looked over to the side, taking in her surroundings a bit, and her eye caught something outside of the window.

Lan and Dex instantly looked over as Mayl let out a loud shriek, and a large hole was blasted in the wall beside her. Frostman proceeded through the hole, advancing on Mayl, who was scrambling backward and trying to get away, as other customers screamed and ran for the doors.

"Leave her alone!" Dex yelled, in a surprising display of courage; he ran right up to the Navi, his fist raised, and tried to knock Frostman away. Frostman quickly turned to face his new adversary, grabbing Dex's arm and gripping it tightly. As Dex struggled and kicked, a block of ice began to form around his arm, growing with each passing second; Dex began to freak, and struggled harder.

"Dex!" Lan called out, looking around and trying to think of a way to help. His eyes quickly settled on something nearby, and he motioned Mayl over. "Mayl! Give me a hand!"

Frostman grinned evilly, as the large block of ice completely encased Dex's lower arm, starting to move toward his shoulder. Noticing a commotion to his left, he looked over just in time to see Lan and Mayl throw a rather large, powered television at him. The screen froze over upon coming in contact with Frostman's blue aura, and shattered upon coming in contact with his head, sending electric shocks throughout his body and causing him to let go. As he struggled to remove the device, Lan and Mayl grabbed Dex's arms, hoisting him up, and ran for the exit, past several other sections of the store.

"Where do we go?!" Mayl wondered aloud, before she felt a hand grab her and pull her aside; Lan and Dex stopped running and looked over.

"All of you, in here! Quickly!" They were being ushered into an open closet by a twenty-something woman with long, black hair adorned with what appeared to be a tiny circular saw blade. She wore a white tank top with a very loose red shirt and green jeans, and had a katana and sheath connected to her belt, an effect that made her look somewhat like a modernized samurai. Lan didn't stop to ponder this very long, and both he and Dex ran into the closet with Mayl. The samurai lady got in after them, closing the door almost all the way, leaving a crack for her to look though.

"Eek!" Mayl shrieked as she felt Dex's frozen arm press against her back in the small space; Lan quickly clamped his hand over her mouth. They all tried to look out the tiny slit in the door, as Frostman zoomed by angrily, leaving a trail of ice behind him. They waited until he had been gone for a while before finally daring to leave the closet.

"Phew, that was close," the girl commented, turning her attention to Dex, who was holding his frozen arm and gritting his teeth in pain. She took his arm and put it on a nearby table, pulling the blade out of her hair. "Hold still, I can get you out of that."

Dex nodded, a bit fearful as the girl pulled out her katana, using the hilt as a hammer and chipping away at the ice. Lan turned to the girl, watching her work.

"Thanks for saving us..." he started. "Good thing you knew about that closet, huh?"

The girl nodded, focusing on removing the ice. "My sister owns this department store, so I know the ins and outs. Name's Tamako Shiraizumi. And for Pete's sake, stop fidgeting, I know what I'm doing." Dex swallowed hard and tried to hold still, as Mayl put a hand on his shoulder to calm him.

Lan took a peek down the hallway where Frostman had left; a trail of ice had been left, and Frostman appeared to have left the floor, at least. He breathed a sigh of relief, turning back to the others just as Tamako managed to free Dex's arm; he quickly withdrew it into his shirt, trying to warm it up.

"There, that's done," she commented, looking into the hall. "Now what the hell was that thing?"

"A Dark Navi, I think..." Lan rubbed his head. "I need to call my dad, right now. He's going to know what to do, I hope..." He pulled out his PET. "Megaman, have you been watching?"

Megaman nodded. "I already tried calling your dad, Lan. There's just a message, he's out visiting with some other scientists somewhere..."

"What?!" Lan exclaimed, incredulous. "He couldn't bring his PET with him?"

Megaman shrugged. "I guess not. We should go to SciLab anyway, Lan; it's probably safe there, plus we'll run into Dad when he gets back."

"Good idea, Megaman." Lan looked down the hallway, seeing the trail of ice again.

"How are we supposed to get by him?!" Dex exclaimed, still nursing his cold arm. "We're not Navis, it's not like we can fight our way past him!"

Tamako walked across the floor to another door, and the children instinctively followed. "We can take the staff elevator to the ground floor. If we're lucky, he'll still be looking for you in the store, and you can escape." She opened the door and led them through, walking them to a nearby elevator, which they quickly entered.

"Thank you so much," Mayl said to Tamako, allowing herself to breathe properly again. "We'd be icicles if it weren't for you."

Tamako smirked. "Don't worry about it. I couldn't just leave you guys to him." The doors opened, and they stepped out to another door, which Tamako opened; they were at the back entrance to the department store, and Frostman could be seen searching a corner far away.

"Now's your chance! Run, quick!" The three children nodded and took off, as Lan waved thanks to Tamako, who waved back and shut the door quickly. Running through the entrance, Lan yelped as he found himself sliding on a large patch of ice; he slid forward and slammed hard into a parked limousine, falling backward. As Lan rubbed his nose, the window of the limousine rolled down.

"Lan, watch where you're going! We just had this car cleaned!" Lan looked up, recognizing Yai's voice, and he scrambled for the door handle.

"Yai! Thank God it's you!" He wrenched the door open and dived into the car, quickly followed by Mayl and Dex, as Yai yelped.

"Hey! What are you guys doing?!" she exclaimed, as the three barrelled over her. "This isn't a taxi service!"

"We need to go to SciLab, right now!" Lan replied, trying to get oriented in his seat.

"You can take the bus!" Yai responded, trying to yank Dex out of the car forcefully, her entire body leaning back as she pulled. "I'm not going to just..."

Yai opened her eyes, looking out of the car toward the department store, and saw, upside-down, what appeared to be a strange sort of ice being inside, heading for the front doors.

"Kyaah! What IS that?!" she demanded, as Lan reached over and pulled her im, slamming the door shut.

"That's what we're running from! We have to get to SciLab now!"

Yai nodded and leaned forward. "Step on it!" she ordered to the chauffeur, who stomped on the gas pedal, equally panicked. The limousine pealed out of its spot, as Frostman proceeded through the front doors, watching it go. Tutting, he pointed his hand toward the retreating vehicle, and a large patch of ice formed right in front of it, causing the car to go skidding out of control. The driver slammed on the brakes, and the limousine did a spin or two, nearly flipping over before coming to rest.

Lan tried to get up, having been thrown off his seat, then impacted by Yai. As he tried to orient himself, he saw the car door open, and Frostman stared inside, grinning evilly.

"It's been fun," he began, forming a large, pointed icicle at the passengers. "But I'm afraid playtime is over." He lifted the icicle over his head, ready to spear the lot of them; Lan braced himself for the attack, not having any idea how to escape. As Frostman prepared to finish them off, his body suddenly distorted, like a TV losing its reception; an instant later, he vanished completely, leaving the icicle to fall to the ground and shatter. All four children stared, completely confused.

"What... just happened?" Mayl wondered.

"Beats me," Dex answered. "He just vanished..."

"Well, good riddance, whatever that thing was," Yai answered. "So, um... do you still need to go to SciLab?"

Lan nodded. "Definitely. Dad told me to go see him right away if something like this happened again."

Yai nodded, as the driver carefully got the limousine going again. "Alright... wait, what? What do you mean 'again'?! What the heck have you been up to?!" she demanded, as the four headed off toward SciLab.


	31. Chapter 5: Out Of The Frying Pan

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 3: The Rise And Fall Of Forte_

* * *

Chapter 5: Out Of The Frying Pan

"I'm sorry, Dr. Hikari still isn't back. He should be here any minute, though..." the receptionist said, somewhat apologetically, as Lan rubbed his forehead; behind him, Mayl watched the exchange with mild interest, as Dex shuffled his feet back and forth boredly.

"I guess we should just wait then..." Lan turned back to the other two.

"What is your dad doing?" Mayl asked, as Lan started walking off down a hallway.

"Some business meeting with IPC, I guess." Mayl and Dex walked behind Lan, not being familiar with SciLab and making sure to stick close; Lan, conversely, wasn't going anywhere in particular, wandering down a hallway with laboratories on either side, killing time. "Some stupid thing, this is way more important, and he's not here... stupid..." He kicked at the ground.

"Lan, just relax," Megaman said somewhat sternly from Lan's PET. "Getting angry isn't going to do anyone any good."

Mayl nodded in agreement, catching up with Lan's pace as Dex stopped, his attention caught on one experiment. "Why are you getting so upset? This isn't like you."

"I'm just frustrated," Lan answered. "This stuff keeps happening to me and I don't know what to do about it. So I go and get DAD, who's supposed to KNOW about all this stuff, and he's not HERE, and it's like I have to keep saving the day by myself..." He clenched his fist in frustration.

"Please, calm down..." Mayl put her hand on his shoulder gently, and Lan untensed. "Besides, I thought you liked being the hero. You do it a lot, anyway..."

Lan shook his head. "I hate it. Well, I don't hate being a hero, but I hate that it's me being the hero... well... you know?"

Mayl blinked, confused. "Um... no. Not really."

"Hey, guys!" Dex called out. "C'mere and take a look at what they're doing!" Mayl and Lan turned around, and Lan quickly walked over to where Dex was standing, not enjoying the conversation; Mayl followed after, looking through the glass at what Dex was watching. A holographic display sat in the middle of the room, and it was displaying three Official Navis, standing and facing each other in a triangle. One of the Official Navis was wielding a Life Sword above his head; to his left, another Navi was summoning another batch of swords, which eventually formed what Lan recognized to be a Life Sword 2.

"What are they doing?" Mayl wondered aloud, as the third Navi formed yet another Program Advance. The three Navis moved toward one another, meeting in the center, and touched their energy swords together; the three combined into a much taller, white pillar of energy, with bolts of red, green and blue crackling around it. Lan stared at the reaction, quite impressed, when the pillar of light suddenly disappeared. The three could hear grumbling voices through the window; clearly the experiment had failed.

"What was that?" Dex wondered. "It looks like they were combining Life Swords together."

Lan nodded, still looking in, as Mayl responded. "It doesn't sound like it worked, though..."

"It never works," a voice from behind added; all three whirled around to see Yuichiro Hikari standing behind them. "They've been trying to do that for months. It should be possible in theory, but you need an immense amount of power, not to mention synchronicity."

"Dad!" Lan exclaimed. "Where have you been?! I was trying to call you, but you never answered!"

"My PET isn't working right now," his father answered. "I've been trying to modify PETs for something I've been working on, but no dice." He started walking off toward the lobby, headed for his office, and the children followed. "So the receptionist tells me you've been waiting for me rather impatiently."

Lan nodded. "It's really important. See, earlier..."

"Yuichiro!" Another voice called out from down a branching hallway, and Lan turned to see Dr. Regal running toward them. "Finally, you're back! Why the hell did you decide to modify your own phone, anyway? I've been trying to-"

"Oh, come on!" Lan belted, highly frustrated; his father put a hand on his shoulder, a subtle order to keep quiet.

"I've been in a meeting with IPC all day, Lucius," Yuichiro responded. "Please tell me this is important."

Regal nodded in response. "You have to come look at this, right now. There's an old SciLab research building in sector H that's resumed operating by itself."

"What?" Yuichiro pushed up his glasses. "All on its own? How is that possible?"

"You'll see that when you see it," Regal responded, walking down another hallway which led toward a parking garage. "Come on, let's go."

Dr. Hikari started walking after him. "Hold up, hold up. What's with this 'surprise' crap? Just tell me what's going on!"

"Dad!" Lan called out, running to catch up. "Come on! This isn't fair! The three of us are attacked by a Dark Navi in the middle of downtown, and-"

"What?!" Both Dr. Hikari and Dr. Regal turned around, as Lan exhaled, partly frustrated, partly relieved that he finally had his father's attention.

"It was this ice Navi," Dex jumped in, stepping forward. "He just appeared out of nowhere and-"

"What do you mean? He wasn't on the Net?"

Lan shook his head. "He was downtown! On the street! And he had this crystal, and it looked a lot like a Dark Chip..."

"Oh God, this is bad," Regal rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger. "This is very bad... Yuichiro, you have to come and see this building, right away."

Yuichiro nodded and stood up. "You three, come with us. You can explain what happened on the way there." They nodded, following after a fast-walking Dr. Regal as they moved toward the SciLab parking garage.

* * *

"...and then he just disappeared, into thin air," Dex concluded.

"He sort of fizzled out, like a TV with a bad picture," Lan contributed, talking to his father in the passenger seat, as Dr. Regal drove them toward the outskirts of Den City.

"Mhmm..." Yuichiro said, taking it all in. "You have anything to add, Mayl? You've been pretty quiet back there."

Mayl shook her head. "No, sir." While she could have said everything the two boys had, the whole business of what was going on with Forte and Dark Chips made her rather uncomfortable, and she was trying not to think about it too hard. Yuichiro nodded in response, and Mayl looked out the window.

"How could Forte have done that..." he wondered aloud. "What sort of technology allows for Navis to appear in the real world like that? Just wandering around, almost no restrictions at all?"

"There's our Cross Fusion technology," Regal offered; Lan blinked, wondering what he was talking about.

"That's crazy, though," Yuichiro responded. "I mean, even we haven't gotten that figured out, and..." His voice trailed off, and he leaned forward, staring at something that had just come into view. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

The three kids in the back looked around for what he was looking at, which came into view as they passed a large building. A short distance ahead, they could see a large, glowing, multicolored dome; it seemed to be compromised of a number of hexagons, like a beehive, and the rainbow colors on its surface flowed and swirled about.

"We discovered it less than an hour ago," Regal explained. "And inside, there are a number of research machines running."

"But that's impossible!" Yuichiro exclaimed. "How could he get it to be so large? And it's not faltering at all!"

"Wow..." Mayl sat up, getting a better look. "What is that, Dr. Hikari?"

"That's a Dimensional Area," Yuichiro answered, as Regal pulled the car into the lot where the building was located; they both quickly unbuckled their seatbelts.

"A Dimensional Area? What's that?" Lan asked.

"I'll explain in a minute, I have to check this out." The two adults got out of the car and walked toward the glowing dome; Lan, Mayl and Dex quickly followed. The two scientists started examining it, with the help of Regal's PET, as Lan, Mayl and Dex looked up at the massive structure.

"Do you think it's okay to touch it?" Dex wondered. Lan shrugged and looked over toward his father, who was pounding on it with his fist. Taking this as a sign in the affirmative, he walked up to the dome and put his palm out on it, to feel a mild electric charge run up his arm.

"Yowch!" He drew his hand back quickly, as Mayl and Dex watched. "It's like it gives off an electric shock!"

"Really? Let me see!" Dex ran up to the Dimensional Area and touched his finger to it, drawing his hand back immediately as well. "Whoa! Now my arm's all tingly!"

"Um, yea. That's what a shock does, dummy," Lan commented, as Dex shook his arm out. Mayl walked right up to the edge of the dome, looking up at it.

"What does it do?" she wondered aloud. "Does it have something to do with Navis? Isn't that what your dad does?"

"Yea, he does Navi research, mostly," Lan answered. "What could they do outside of the Net, though?"

"Graagh!" Lan saw his father kick the Dimensional Area out of anger. "I can't believe this! He didn't just steal our technology, he's improved upon it! He's smarter than we are!"

"This is what Dr. Cossack was telling us about..." Regal commented. "His intelligence is extraordinary, but I never thought a Navi's mind could really be superior to ours."

Dr. Hikari rested his head in his palm, as Lan walked over curiously. "Dad, what exactly is this? What does a Dimensional Area do?"

"A Dimensional Area takes a given space and allows executable programs to manifest a physical form inside it," his father responded somewhat mechanically, as Mayl and Dex walked up from behind. "More simply, it bridges the gap between cyberspace and the real world."

Mayl looked again toward the Dimensional Area. "So it brings programs into the real world? Does that include Navis?"

"Navis in the real world?" Dex wondered aloud. "You mean... Forte could be in this building right now?"

Dr. Hikari nodded slowly. "Yes and yes. And this would explain how your ice Navi appeared downtown earlier. It seems like Forte is doing his own research, based on or technology, and he's doing it on SciLab property to boot."

"So how do we stop him?!" Lan wondered. "Do we just blow up the building or what?"

"We can't do that," his father answered, as the group started migrating back toward the car. "A Dimensional Area is impenetrable by most weaponry. If we actually managed to destroy it, we'd take out a small portion of Den City as well. We need to get back and think of how we're supposed to proceed."

Lan nodded, climbing back into the backseat of the vehicle. Mayl followed, eyeballing him curiously; for someone who claimed to hate being the hero, he sure did jump at the opportunity to be one.

* * *

For most of the trip back, Regal and Yuichiro tossed ideas back and forth, to no avail. The three children sat in the back, having essentially nothing to contribute, though Lan and Dex listened in anyway.

"...no, that probably won't work," Regal spoke, shooting down another of his partner's ideas. "You can't just run through while cross-fusing, our current fusion algorithms require the initial presence of the Dimensional Area before they work at all." Lan sighed, realizing their conversation was going nowhere; looking down toward his PET, he noticed he had received an e-mail from Princess Pride, with whom he had been corresponding regularly; he turned away from the others and read it.

"What if..." Regal pondered. "This is completely crazy, of course, but what if that Dimensional Area were to intersect with another? How did we handle that sort of collision problem?"

Yuichiro thought to himself for a minute. "That might work, actually... the problem is, we wouldn't be able to make a portable area large enough for any more than one person to enter. We'd need something larger if we're going to shut that lab down."

Regal turned into the parking garage that they had left from, driving down the inclined parking within and heading toward employee parking. As he began to turn a corner, a powerful sensation suddenly made everyone sit up straight, as if a jolt had shot through them. It was as though some sort of static charge had filled the air, making it come alive.

"What the..." Yuichiro turned around, and the three youngsters followed his gaze. Outside the entrance to the garage, the sky seemed to have become a glowing rainbow of colors, one they recognized far too well.

"How... no, no, no! This can't be happening! We've been trapped in here!" Yuichiro cursed and slammed his fist into the glove compartment, which sprang open.

"What?!" Lan exclaimed at the same time as Mayl. "What do we do now?!"

"Gah... calm down, think..." Yuichiro took a deep breath, trying to orient himself, a desperately needed maneuver. "What do we do... the Dimensional Area generators. There's no way anyone could generate something of this size without using them, not even Forte. They must be working..."

"They're on the second floor, right?" Regal pulled out his PET and handed it to Dr. Hikari. "See if you can contact anyone there."

Yuichiro used Regal's PET and tried to make a phone call, as Lan, Mayl and Dex all looked backward at the Dimensional Area that had formed around the building.

"Geez, what a day..." Lan muttered. "Could anything else go wrong?"

"Why is this happening?" Mayl asked, now visibly frightened. "This really is a nightmare, one I can't wake up from..."

"This kind of stuff always seems so much cooler on TV," Dex commented, also frightened, though not quite noticeably so. "But when it's really happening to you, it's just... scary." Lan nodded in response, the only one of the three not panicking.

"Ugh, nothing." Yuichiro returned Regal's PET, as Regal drove right up to the elevators. "We'll just have to go and turn them off ourselves, then." He unbuckled himself and stepped out of the now-stationary vehicle, as everyone else followed suit. Lan walked up to the elevator and pressed the call button, but his father shook his head.

"Forget that, that's going to be too slow." He walked over toward the stairs. "It's only a couple floors up, we can walk." Lan nodded, walking next to his father as both of them started ascending, only to suddenly be stopped by a hand from behind.

"Look out!" Regal cried out as he yanked both Hikaris off of the stairs; a couple seconds later, everyone jumped back as a large, gray Heavy virus slammed down in front of them, destroying the stairs.

"A virus?!" Mayl exclaimed, taking several steps backward and panicking further. "What... this..."

"Goddamn you, Forte!" Dr. Hikari yelled. "What do we do now? How do we get... the elevator!" He turned around and saw that the elevator had arrived, surprisingly quickly, and everyone scrambled toward it; Mayl quickly situated herself inside, and Lan found himself right behind her, trying to get in.

"Hold it right there," a voice called out. Everyone turned toward the voice, which came from a short ways into the parking garage, and found themselves faced with a familiar blue Navi.

Frostman smirked. "How convenient... everybody I need to talk to, gathered right here for me." His eyes traveled from Dex, to Dr. Regal, to Dr. Hikari, and finally settled on Lan, who took a step back toward the elevator as its door started to close. "You're all too kind."

Moving quickly, Yuichiro took a step back and shoved Lan backward into the elevator as hard as he could. Lan collided hard with the back wall of the elevator, holding the now-sore spot where his father had pushed him, as the door slowly closed. Thinking fast, Lan stepped forward and slammed his fist on the button for the top floor, trying to get Mayl and himself as far away from Frostman as he could manage; he breathed a small sigh of relief as the car started moving, taking the two children away from their aggressor.

Back on the ground floor, Yuichiro was staring down the advancing Frostman, moving in front of Dex in a meager attempt to protect him. "You must be the Navi who tried to hurt these three earlier. You're not going to lay a hand on them, you hear me?"

Frostman laughed. "You think I'm really concerned about them? That was just me having some fun while I tested out Forte's new technology." He glided forward, leaving a trail of ice behind him. "No, no. The one I'm interested in is you, Dr. Hikari... you and your partner over there."

He smirked. "I have some questions about your work, and you're going to give me answers."

* * *

In the elevator, Lan was resting his head against the elevator wall, breathing hard and still holding the spot where his father had pushed him, which was starting to become distractingly painful. Beside him, Mayl had progressed from fearful panic to complete and total meltdown.

"Oh God..." she said aloud, clutching at her bangs. "We're trapped in here, and there are viruses, and that monster Navi is back and everything's horrible..." Tears leaked out of her eyes, as her mind tried and failed to process everything that was going on, overwhelmed. "What do we do, what's going to happen?!"

"Would you shut up for a minute?!" Lan snapped, frustrated; Mayl quieted down and looked toward Lan, surprised, as he sighed. "I'm trying to think about what we need to do... just stop freaking out for ten seconds..."

As his mind raced, he suddenly realized that the hand holding his stomach was also holding something else. Looking down at his palm, he saw some strange Battlechip; his father must have handed it off to him discretely.

"W... what's that?" Mayl inquired, starting to come back down to earth; Lan held it up between his thumb and forefinger. It had a small number of circuits adorning its surface, and in its center was what seemed to be a circle of green plastic or glass, he couldn't tell.

"I'm not sure..." Lan and Mayl stared at the mysterious Battlechip, as the elevator continued upward to the top floor of SciLab.


	32. Chapter 6: Cross Fusion

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 3: The Rise And Fall Of Forte_

* * *

Chapter 6: Cross Fusion

On the tenth and topmost floor of SciLab, two standard-issue black Navis sat guard, extremely bored, their attention wandering.

"Hm?" One turned to the other.

"What?" the other Navi replied.

"You say something?"

"Why would I say anything?" The other Navi looked over.

"Well, I heard a noise, and thought maybe you said something."

"I didn't say anything. Why would I say something? We're supposed to be standing guard for intruders." The Navi rolled his eyes. "Now shut up and pay attention."

Both Navis returned to staring at opposite sides of the room. In a conveniently unguarded corner of the room, Lan and Mayl sat crouched behind a desk, having gotten off the elevator in an adjacent area.

"Two Navis keeping guard... not very well, though," Lan muttered to himself, as Mayl listened. "That ice Navi isn't alone... shoot, I should have sent us to the second floor."

"Why, what's there?" Mayl asked; she had regained some measure of composure after her short breakdown in the elevator.

"Dad said the Dimensional Area generators were there, remember?" Lan reminded her. "If we can get them turned off, that'll take care of all of this."

"Maybe..." Mayl sat back and took a deep breath, trying to think as clearly as Lan was, a task she found to be difficult. "But... there are going to be Navis guarding them, too, don't you think? If they're that important?"

"That's probably true..." Lan rubbed his head. "Maybe if we create some sort of diversion, we can sneak in... or something... ugh, why is it always me being put in these situations?"

"Lan, how are you not freaking out right now?" Mayl marveled. "I mean, we're trapped alone in this building, and there are viruses and Navis everywhere, and you're just... you don't look scared at all..." She looked over at him, holding a newfound respect and admiration for her friend, as he sat back and sighed.

"I don't know," Lan spoke. "I mean, I am scared, but I don't really think about it. My mind just sort of blocks it out, like... like there isn't time to be scared, I guess."

Mayl smiled at him. "Well, at least one of us has a cool head right now."

Lan nodded, half-smiling. "Yea... I just wish it would work right." He looked down at the strange chip he was holding between his fingers. "Darn it, Dad... why did you give me this..."

"Why don't you try it out?"

Lan's face turned skeptical. "Well, if it's a Battlechip, it would only work if Megaman was on the Net... but if it's not... bleh, I wish I knew what heck this was."

Mayl shrugged. "It couldn't hurt to try, could it?"

"I guess not." Lan put the mystery chip up to the slot on his PET. "Alright, here we go." He started to insert it into his PET, when a hand intervened, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him up. Mayl shrieked and scrambled backward as she saw one guard Navi apprehend Lan, not noticing that another was waiting right behind her.

"Look what we got here!" the second Navi said aloud, causing Mayl to whirl around. "A couple of little brats snooping around!"

"Let me go!" Lan exclaimed, kicking at the Navi that was holding him, as the other grabbed Mayl by the wrist.

Lan's Navi laughed. "Sure thing, kid!" The Navi handily threw Lan across the room, where he rolled across the floor before hitting the opposite wall.

"What do you think we should do with 'em?" the second Navi asked, holding a tight grip on Mayl's wrist as she struggled to get away.

"I say we have a bit of fun with 'em before we kill 'em," his comrade replied. "Stupid humans... that's what they get, I say." He advanced on Lan, who slowly got to his feet; as he stood up, he accidentally brushed his PET against his hip, inserting the mystery chip the rest of the way into the chip slot.

Instantly, a powerfully bright light emitted from his PET, one that quickly encompassed Lan's body and blinded everyone in the room. Lan could feel something strange emit from his PET, a sort of covering that spread across his entire body and became solid. As this strange substance began to take shape, Lan felt as if there were something building up within, as well, as if he was being charged with electricity.

When the light faded a moment later, Mayl and the Navis uncovered their eyes and gaped in unison at what they saw. Lan had been covered head-to-toe with a dark blue bodysuit, with white stripes running down his back and around his legs; his head, hands and feet were covered in armor of a lighter blue color, making Lan look very much like another person they all knew.

"What the hell? Isn't that Megaman?" one Navi asked, as the other inadvertently loosened his grip on Mayl. Seizing the opportunity, she tried to scramble away again.

"Hey! No you don't!" the Navi yelled, moving to apprehend her again. Lan's eyes flashed as he saw this, and he promptly vanished into thin air. He reappeared between Mayl and the astonished Navi, who didn't have time to say a word before Lan's right hand turned into a sword, which he promptly thrust into the Navi's abdomen. The Navi's eyes went wide, and he remained surprised as his body quickly dissolved away.

Without pausing, Lan whirled around and fired a Cannon from his left hand at the unsuspecting other Navi, who stumbled backward. Lan deftly leapt over a surprised Mayl and used his sword to cleanly bisect the second Navi, whose two halves fell to the ground before being deleted. Breathing heavily, Lan suddenly became aware of his surroundings again, and he grabbed his head in confusion, sinking to his knees.

"Wow... what... just happened?" he muttered to himself, as Mayl warily got to her feet, not sure if she could get closer.

"Lan... Megaman? I... can't really tell... who are you?"

"I'm Lan... I think." Lan looked down at his arms, inspecting the weaponry that had formed in place of hands; they quickly vanished, and his hands returned. "But that... I didn't do any of that. It's like I wasn't in control of my body, or something."

_Erm, yea..._ Megaman's voice rang in Lan's head. _That was me, actually... I just sort of leapt into action there. Isn't this my body?_

"Megaman?" Lan looked around before realizing the voice was in his head. "You're in my body? Or are you just in my head? Ugh, I'm so confused..."

"Both of you?" Mayl blinked, stepping closer, before her eyes went wide with realization. "Lan, I think I get it! This is that Cross Fusion that your dad was talking about! That chip he gave you, it let you do this!"

"Cross Fusion... hey, you may be right!" Lan stood up again, taking a better look at himself; he definitely looked a great deal like Megaman, and if Megaman was in his head... "We must be sharing the same body or something... but how is that possible?"

Mayl rapped her fist against Lan's head, investigating his helmet. "I don't know... I swear I'm going to wake up any minute, this is crazy!"

Lan brushed Mayl's hand away. "Well, I can just ask Dad about this later, I guess. In any case, now we can fight them off. Somehow..."

_We can do it, Lan_, Megaman reassured. _You operate, I fight, just like usual. I'm sure it'll work out fine._

Lan nodded and looked around. "Come on, we have to get to the second floor." He walked back toward the elevator, motioning for Mayl to follow, which she did, albeit a bit cautiously, still being unnerved by Lan's transformation. Reaching the elevator, Lan pressed the call button and waited, hearing the car approach. When the doors opened, though, there was a mysterious device inside, one they only had an instant to look at, as it emitted a high-pitched beeping sound.

"Look out!" Lan cried, putting his arms up defensively, as Mayl quickly got behind him, shielding herself as best as she could manage. He erected a barrier just in time, as the mystery device exploded violently, sending flames and shrapnel all around the room; a number of flaming shards shot straight at the two youngsters, bouncing off the barrier. Once the smoke cleared, Lan lowered the barrier and his arms, taking a look at the elevator, as did Mayl, who had a death grip on Lan's torso and her heart rate roughly around hummingbird pace. The elevator had been reduced to a smouldering piece of wreckage, black and burnt and twisted.

"I guess... we're taking the stairs," Lan managed.

* * *

On the second floor of SciLab, Dr. Hikari, Dr. Regal, Dex and Frostman all looked upward, as a loud booming sound was heard, coupled with the shaking of the ceiling.

"What was that?!" Dex exclaimed.

Frostman smirked. "If I had to guess, I'd say the other two children got the present I sent them."

"What?!" Yuichiro responded. "What present?!"

"Just something I sent them in the elevator." Frostman continued leading the group forward. "I'm guessing they didn't get to enjoy it for long. But enough about that, let's cut to the chase."

Yuichiro gritted his teeth in anger, praying that Lan had figured out to use the Synchro Chip, and moreso that the chip had worked. He continued to follow Frostman, as did the other two, until they reached the main Cross Fusion research area.

"Right, then." Frostman turned around, facing the two doctors. "You two are going to produce a Dimensional Core for me, right here and now. It's imperative that Master Forte get his hands on one, at any cost."

Dr. Regal snorted. "You must be joking. Even if we could, we wouldn't let Forte have it."

"Are you sure about that?" Frostman moved forward quickly and grabbed Dex by the wrist. As Dex yelped and tried to get free, Frostman produced a sharp, spinning blade of ice, which he lowered and started moving toward Dex's head.

"Stop it! I'm serious!" Regal repeated. "We can't produce a Dimensional Core! Let him go!"

Frostman said nothing, moving the deadly blade ever closer; Dex started to panic and sweat bullets, but dared not move a muscle as the saw came within mere centimeters of his neck.

"Gah, for God's sake!" Yuichiro cried out, desperate. "We're telling you, we've never produced one! What do you want from us, you psycho?!"

Frostman smirked and looked over at Dr. Hikari. "Touchy, touchy." The blade disappeared and he let go of Dex, who sank to the floor, breathing heavily.

"Alright then, new plan," Frostman declared, moving toward the two doctors. "Let's do a bit of research, compare notes. We'll see if we can't create one on our own."

Turning away from them and walking toward the mainframe computer, a device on Frostman's side beeped; he grabbed it and brought it to his mouth, as the other three followed him and watched.

"I thought I told you cretins not to contact me," he began sharply. The voice on the other end spoke something that Dr. Hikari, Dr. Regal and Dex couldn't understand, but whatever it was incensed Frostman greatly.

"Is this some sort of joke?! Two guards?! You people are pathetic!" he yelled. "Get more men on it then! They're two children, this shouldn't be difficult!"

He slammed the device back onto his hip, grumbling, as Yuichiro smirked; it seemed like Lan had figured out the Synchro Chip after all. If he knew his son, Frostman was going to have much more difficulty than he anticipated.

* * *

Several floors above, Lan and Mayl were cautiously descending a flight of metallic stairs somewhat reminiscent of a fire escape. Lan led the way, keeping his head leaned over the rail, looking for trouble; Mayl followed behind, once again scared out of her wits. The elevator bomb had not only reinforced to her the danger of the situation, but illustrated to her how things could happen in an instant. She felt as if she was completely helpless, thrust into a living hell; the only thing keeping her safe, and sane, was Lan. She followed him closely, placing her life into his hands.

"I think we got lucky," Lan commented. "They probably think we're dead from that bomb. No one's even looking for us right now."

"Oh yes, great," Mayl replied sarcastically and angrily. "Everyone thinks we're dead, that's just fantastic!"

"Mayl, please calm down," Lan advised.

"I can't, Lan, I can't!" Mayl cried out, starting to break down again. "We're going to die here, I know it! We're going to..." A sob escaped her lips.

Lan turned around and walked back up to her, grasping her arm lightly and looking her in the eye. "Mayl, listen to me. Nobody is going to be dying here, not if I have anything to say about it. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, I promise. Okay?"

Mayl looked back at him, tears in the corners of her eyes, thinking of his words and trying to calm herself down; she nodded slowly, unable to speak. Lan nodded back and continued down the stairs, holding her gently by the wrist; she followed, appreciating his touch and trying to place her confidence in him. They continued down another flight, now a few flights away from the second floor, when Lan noticed something lower on the stairs.

"Mettools... lots of them, walking up the stairs," he observed; he formed a buster on his left hand and started firing, deleting the viruses one by one. "Not exactly a major threat..." As he fired at the marching line of Mettools, he was taken by surprise when around of ammunition blew past his head.

"Whoa!" He backed away from the ledge, quickly pulling Mayl behind him to keep her out of the line of fire. He looked down the stairs and saw two black Navis firing High Cannons in his direction from three floors below.

"Damn... they're organizing! This is going to be tricky..." Lan formed a Vulcan Cannon on his wrist and aimed downward, firing upon the two Navis, who took light damage but continued to attack. Cursing, Lan summoned a few Minibombs and flung them toward his opponents; they both jumped backward into the room, but still were caught in the explosions, receiving some more damage.

"That'll show them," Lan commented, turning his attention back to the stairs, where his eyes went wide. During his brief skirmish with the Navis, the Mettool army had made their way right up to the step where Lan and Mayl were, and they were starting to crackle dangerously with electricity. Lan quickly aimed and fired his buster, taking out as many of the near ones as he could before the Mettools all self-destructed at once.

Instantly, the stairwell was turned into flaming chaos; the stairs, not being of the world's highest quality, twisted and cracked in many areas, and fell right apart in many others. The step that Lan and Mayl were on quickly bent under their weight, pitching them forward, screaming, into the flaming stairwell. Lan, thinking quickly as usual, summoned an Airshot and fired it down at the ground, slowing his descent and allowing him to land himself on the only steady stairs he could find. He instantly whirled around and caught a terrified Mayl in his arms, then ducked backward into the adjacent room to avoid the fall of flaming wreckage.

"Are you alright?" Lan asked, worried, as he put her down. Mayl nodded, breathing heavily and holding one hand over her heart; the other hand was clasped tight around Lan's.

"They're down here!" Lan heard a voice call out from further into the large room, filled with a number of test tubes and other materials. He looked toward the source of the noise, and saw a large number of black Navis, around two dozen, pouring into the room from another stairwell nearby. "Get everyone in here! He can't take on all of us!" Lan gritted his teeth and flattened the two of them against the wall, as Navis started firing light arms in his direction.

"Looks like this is it," he commented. "This is all of them... I take them out, there's nothing between us and the generators."

"You're going to fight all of them?!" Mayl exclaimed, as Lan formed a sword on his arm. "Are you crazy?!"

"Probably!" Lan responded, running out into the room and forming another sword; Mayl started to run after him, only to run into a formerly invisible wall; Lan had put up a Barrier around her to keep her safe. She watched, horrified, as Lan dashed right into the fray, seemingly to his doom.

"Let's see how you guys like this!" Lan yelled, putting his two swords together and swinging with all his might. The resultant Life Sword was truly enormous, far greater than anything Lan and Megaman had generated before; it swept through the room, slicing through every single Navi present before hitting the back wall and cracking it. The air was filled with the particles of deleted Navis, swirling up and away, as Lan blinked in surprise.

"Holy cow... was that me?" he wondered aloud.

_I've never seen anything like that,_ Megaman contributed. _Why was it so powerful? Do you think it was the Cross Fusion?_

"It might have been." Lan looked down at his hand. "It was a lot easier to pull off, too. Maybe it's because we're really synchronized right now..."

"Lan, that was amazing!" Mayl exclaimed, running up to him as the Barrier disappeared. "I mean, all those Navis, and you just... wow!"

Lan smiled. "I told you I'd take care of things, didn't I?" He looked around the room at his handiwork; many of the Navis had been deleted, but some of them remained behind, their bodies lying on the floor in two pieces; in some cases, only half a Navi would remain, even.

"Look, some of them are still here," Lan commented, walking over to one.

"Do you think they're still... alive?" Mayl wondered, cautious; Lan kicked at one with his foot. It didn't move.

"I don't think so..." he pondered, before shaking his head. "Whatever, it's not important. Come on, we have to keep moving!" Mayl nodded, feeling better about the situation after witnessing Lan's capabilities, and they both ran toward the nearby stairs, ready for this insanity to end.

* * *

"My God..." Dr. Regal spoke, looking up at a computer screen full of notes and research; Frostman had brought up a file containing Forte's progress toward the construction of a Dimensional Core, and to Dr. Regal and Dr. Hikari, the results were nothing short of astonishing. "This is phenomenal... this is everything we've needed..."

"I would expect nothing less from Master Forte," Frostman responded, pleased at their reaction. "His intelligence is unsurpassed, unmatchable."

"Oh yea?" Dex shot back, unable to decipher the onscreen notes, and therefore completely interested. "If he's so smart, why does he need their help?"

Frostman laughed. "He doesn't 'need' anything from you humans. He would have created a Dimensional Core on his own, but in the interest of time, he has opted for this path. He only recently has come across the Cross Fusion technology, and Forte of all people recognizes that a fresh perspective goes a long way toward solving such problems, even if it is from you mortals."

"Mortals?" Yuichiro questioned, dismissively. "What the hell are you talking about? Forte's just as mortal as any of us."

"Still your tongue!" Frostman exclaimed angrily, violently backhanding Yuichiro and knocking him to the floor. "You know not of what you speak. Forte has seen things you cannot begin to comprehend, he has seen the truth. He is a being far beyond this world and its lowly inhabitants."

Yuichiro rubbed his sore cheek. "So he thinks he's a god, huh? Now he's starting up cults, to brainwash crazy Navis like you into doing his dirty work. I thought that he would be above that, but I guess not."

Frostman stared Yuichiro down, with a cold hatred that none of them had seen come from him before, before he finally spoke again.

"As I was being prepared for this mission, Master Forte told me that only one of you needed to remain alive." He produced a Long Sword and pointed it straight at Yuichiro's throat. "I know now which of you isn't going to make it."

Regal and Dex gasped, as Yuichiro started to crawl backwards. "Whoa, wait a minute here! Hold on!"

"No one says such depraved things about Master Forte and lives to tell the tale." Frostman put his foot on Yuichiro's abdomen and raised his sword. "A lesson you learned far too late, Dr. Hikari." Frostman brought his sword down, and the two observers turned their heads, unable to watch.

Expecting to hear Frostman's sword cut through Lan's father, they were surprised to hear instead a clash of metal on metal. Dr. Regal and Dex looked back over; in between Frostman and Yuichiro stood what appeared to be a Lan/Megaman hybrid, blocking Frostman's blade with his own.

"Megaman? What the?!" Dex exclaimed.

"Lan! You're alright!" Yuichiro looked up at his son, who was looking forward at the opposing Navi.

"Dad! Get back!" Lan ordered, elbowing Frostman in the gut and knocking the Navi away from his father. Lan leapt after him, attacking, but Frostman quickly moved backward; Yuichiro took the opportunity to scramble away, and Regal and Dex followed him.

"What?! Megaman?!" Frostman exclaimed angrily. "How is this possible?! I sent dozens of viruses and Navis after you and your operator!"

"You should have sent better ones!" Lan replied, swinging his sword again; Frostman vanished, reappearing far above Lan, in the center of the room.

"Pah! It matters not!" Frostman retorted. "This is as far as you go, Megaman! Allow me to introduce you to the ninth circle of Hell!"

Frostman outstretched his arms, and a cold blue mist began to spread from him and throughout the room; it obscured vision wherever it was present, and any surface it touched was instantly covered in crystal and ice. Regal, Yuichiro and Dex started running away from the mist, when they noticed Mayl beckoning them into an open door. They quickly piled in through the opening and shut the door, shortly before the icy mist frosted it over.

"Damn, that was close... thanks, Mayl," Yuichiro acknowledged. Mayl nodded in response, moving toward a nearby window that looked into the research-lab-come-arena; it was frosted over, but still mostly transparent. The others quickly followed to watch the action, but found it hard to see anything that wasn't close, due to the obscuring mist.

"What's going on?!" Dex demanded. "Isn't that Megaman?"

"That's Lan and Megaman, Cross Fused," Dr. Regal replied. "Yuichiro must have handed him a Synchro Chip somehow, right?"

Yuichiro nodded. "At the time, I thought it was our only chance to get him out of here in one piece. Then he ends up saving all of us... bless that kid, he can certainly keep his head in situations like this."

Mayl nodded in agreement, as Dr. Regal spoke up. "I can't believe it actually worked. Only one other person has ever been able to Cross Fuse for more than five seconds."

"It's all about synchronization," Yuichiro responded. "And you know that you can't find an operator and Navi more in synch than Lan and Megaman."

Dex stared out the window again; they could see Lan approach the window, looking around cautiously, then suddenly turn and block one of Frostman's attacks. The two battlers quickly disappeared again.

"Isn't there something we can do, Dr. Hikari?" Mayl asked, starting to feel bad that Lan was continually the one being forced to do all the hard work. "Do we just have to let them fight?"

"Come to think of it, yes. We can still get those generators shut down," Regal answered for his partner, turning around.

"You do that," Yuichiro responded. "I'm going to stay here, in case anything goes wrong." Regal nodded and dashed off to another room, as Lan's father stayed by the window with the other two children, hoping to get a glimpse of the action.

* * *

"Gah, I'm getting nowhere like this," Lan muttered to himself, looking around. "I can't even see him 90% of the time..."

_The mist definitely has to go,_ Megaman agreed, a statement that was hardly necessary; Lan and Megaman were operating in near-perfect tandem as it was. _What's your plan?_

"Air Shot's the fastest way," Lan commented, raising his left arm; a few seconds later, his Air Shot gun still hadn't appeared.

_Huh? Why isn't it working?_

"I don't know... I don't know how these stupid Battlechips work like this." Lan shook his head, listening for Frostman and trying to come up with a new plan, which soon happened. He pointed his hand up at the ceiling, where a Fan appeared and immediately began operating; it started to suck in the icy mist and expelled normal cold air, and visibility in the room soon started to return to normal.

"Did it!" Lan looked around and quickly found his opponent, firing off a series of buster shots that were easily dodged. He immediately used an Area Steal, getting up close with his opponent and swinging a Long Sword at Frostman's body. Frostman focused himself for an instant before the blade connected; upon touching Frostman's body, the blade shattered into dozens of pieces.

"What?!" Lan exclaimed; Frostman smirked, before delivering a powerful kick to Lan's jaw and knocking him back.

"You think such simple weapons are going to work on me?" he taunted. "The air immediately surrounding my body is cold enough to freeze your swords instantly. You'll have to do better than that!"

Lan got up, rubbing his chin, and jumped to avoid an ice boulder flung in his direction; he tried to produce a Fire Sword, and was pleased when one formed on his arm. He landed on his feet and quickly swung at a number of icicles that Frostman had thrown in his direction; they melted upon contact with the aura of the sword, and the water splashed harmlessly around Lan's feet.

"Hmph!" Frostman smirked, hovering several meters in the air, and aimed his hands at Lan; hundreds of pointed icicles shot out of his hands and toward his opponent. Lan quickly swung his Fire Sword at all of them, and they all turned to water and fell to the ground. They kept this act up for nearly a full minute before Frostman finally relented, grinning.

"What's he up to?" Lan wondered, before moving to take a step forward; he nearly fell forward, his feet not cooperating. Looking down, Lan was horrified to see that the water from the icicles had fallen and re-frozen around his feet, burying them under several inches from ice, far too much to cut through in a short amount of time.

"Hahaha! You fool!" Frostman called out, extending his right arm and producing a massive, dual-ended ice scythe. "Too late do you realize your mistake! And now your life comes to a close!"

The three observers panicked, as they saw Frostman speed toward the immobile Lan, ready to deliver the final blow.

"No! Lan!" Mayl cried out, as Yuichiro started slamming his fist on the glass in anger.

"Come on, Lan, you can think of something!" Dex said tensely, as if Lan was able to hear him there.

Frostman approached with impressive speed, holding the scythe, as Lan gritted his teeth, not out of frustration, but focus.

"Come on, just a little closer, you arrogant bastard..." he muttered under his breath, his mind focused on something he had never tried before; Megaman was focused as well, attempting to be as in-sync with his operator as possible. Frostman was blissfully unaware of Lan's concentration, wrapped up in the heat of the moment.

"Now!" Lan cried out, holding his arms above his head; almost immediately, from the single Fire Sword he was holding, two more swords quickly appeared and vanished just as fast, forming a giant red pillar of energy, a Life Sword 2. Lan grasped the blade by its base and hurled it like a javelin with all his might.

Frostman saw the attack coming too late, as Lan had conceived it much too quickly for him; he put up his best defenses, unable to dodge, but the Life Sword 2 shattered them as if they were nothing, and embedded itself in Frostman's torso. Frostman's eyes went wide, and the Navi collapsed to the ground, a few yards in front of Lan. The blade disappeared in a massive energy blast, sweeping across the room and cracking the ice that lined the ground, in addition to tearing up Frostman's insides. The Navi groaned in intense pain and humiliation.

"For... forgive me, Forte... I failed..." Frostman closed his eyes and breathed his last. Lan sighed in relief, looking down at the cracked ice around his feet; a single buster shot was enough to shatter it completely, and he stepped away.

"Lan!" He looked over to see Mayl running at him, and she threw his arms around his neck, hugging him tight. "Thank goodness! You're alright!"

Lan nodded and held her with one arm, as the other two also left their safe haven and approached Lan. As they did, though, they jumped back as a bright, purple light appeared next to Frostman's fallen corpse. When the light faded, a rather sinister-looking Navi was standing in its place, colored purple and black, with claws and pointed, overlarge ears; the Navi's form seemed to be a cross between a human and a bat.

"Pathetic... we expected more from you, Frostman," the Navi spoke in a raspy voice, as he reached down and grabbed Frostman by the arm.

"Hold it! Who are you?" Lan demanded, pointing his buster at the Navi with one arm and holding protectively onto Mayl with the other. The Navi cackled in response.

"I'm just here to pick up some damaged goods," he replied. "Lucky for us, not all Navis in a Dimensional Area are deleted when they go defunct. This one's memory banks should be able to provide us with the information we need to get that Core up and running."

"No!" Lan cried out, firing several buster shots at the Navi, who vanished with Frostman in a similar flash of light. Seconds afterward, a strange level of energy seemed to leave the air, and the ice in the room cleared away; Mayl yelped and jumped back as Lan's body glowed, only to see it return to normal, his PET attached to his hip as usual. He blinked and looked down at himself, surprised, as Dr. Regal came running the room.

"Finally got the generators off," he commented. "What'd I miss?"

* * *

"Are you crazy?!" Yuichiro exclaimed. "Absolutely not! Out of the question!"

"But Dad, we don't have any time to waste!" Lan responded. "If that weird Navi was right, then Forte can create a Dimensional Core soon! We can't just let him do that, can we?"

"No, of course we can't." Yuichiro rubbed his forehead. "But sending you into that research lab all by yourself? That's far too dangerous, Lan, even for you."

"He's right, Lan. Listen to him, please," Mayl urged, one of a few people on the sidelines of this argument. Lan shook his head.

"What's dangerous is letting Forte get his hands on something like that!" he retorted. "If he creates and absorbs a Core, there's not going to be anybody who can stop him! We have to do something, and this is the only thing we can do right now. You know it is, Dad."

Lan sighed. "I know you don't want me getting hurt, but there's nothing else we can do. I can take care of myself, I just proved that, didn't I?"

Yuichiro sighed as well. "Lan... alright. You may be right; we don't have a lot of options right now."

"What?!" Mayl and Regal exclaimed at once, incredulous and angry, as Yuichiro turned to the two of them; Dex stood by himself elsewhere, not sure which side to take.

"He's right, something has to be done. All we can do is send a small number of people into that Dimensional Area, and we're going to need people who can Cross Fuse. A Navi is more powerful and useful than any weaponry we could obtain." Yuichiro turned back to Lan. "But you aren't going to be going alone."

"Huh?" Lan blinked, as his father started to walk into another area. "Who else is going to be there?"

"The only other person who's been able to successfully Cross Fuse," his father commented, as Regal joined the three of them. "Eugene Chaud."

"Chaud?!" Lan exclaimed, as the three walked into another room; Mayl started to walk after them.

"But... wait! Hold on!" she called out; the trio, either ignoring her or unable to hear her, didn't respond. She stood and watched them go, sadly. Dex walked over to her, feeling like he should say something but not knowing what, as Mayl looked down at the floor.

"Lan..." she muttered to herself, confused and upset.


	33. Chapter 7: Into The Fire

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 3: The Rise And Fall Of Forte_

* * *

Chapter 7: Into The Fire

Lan sat absentmindedly in the SciLab lobby, preloading Battlechips into his PET, creating a special preset folder for the task that lay ahead. He looked out the large windows in front of him, taking on the sight of Den City in the night; it was midnight, the tail end of an extremely long, trying day, and the city was asleep. Lan's adrenaline was starting to run low, but he was wide awake, and would have to be for the next few hours; he had one more task in front of him before he could finally rest.

* * *

Shortly after Frostman's defeat, the crew had moved on to Yuichiro's research lab; they were partially relieved that they had managed to get out of the siege alive, and partially worried about the mysterious Navi that had appeared to retrieve Frostman's frame. While Dr. Regal and Dr. Hikari were thinking to themselves about their next move, Lan decided to take the opportunity to get some answers.

"Hey, Dad?"

"Huh?" Yuichiro turned around a bit to look at Lan, along with the other people in the room. "Lan?"

"Dad, what exactly happened to me and Megaman?" Lan inquired. "Was that Cross Fusion or whatever you were saying?"

"Right, I should probably explain that..." Yuichiro turned his body to face Lan, as Dr. Regal went back to work. "Yes, that was Cross Fusion. In a Dimensional Area, computer programs are able to take on a physical, tangible form; Cross Fusion uses that fact and allows an operator and their Navi to temporarily occupy the same body, more or less. Actually, it'd be more accurate to say your PET becomes an extension of your body, like a suit of armor. And at the same time, the body is partly digitized, though not that much."

"How can you do that, though?" Mayl added. "It doesn't seem possible... merging with a Navi like that, I've never even heard of anything like that before." Yuichiro chuckled.

"I could try explaining it to you, but it's absurdly complicated even for me. For now, let's just say Lucius and I do it with magic."

Lan smirked. "Alright. So how do Battlechips and other stuff work? Me and Megaman tried using some, but they wouldn't always work."

Yuichiro pushed his glasses up. "Well, we're still working on the Battlechip activation methods. Eventually, we want the user to be able to insert them during Cross Fusion, but that's not even close to working right at the moment, so we're using a workaround. You know the preset folders you have stored in your PET?"

"Yea..." Lan pulled out his PET and opened up the Folders tab; Mayl and Dex leaned in, as Lan checked out his currently preset tournament folder. As he scrolled through, his mind clicked with the answer. "Oh, I get it. The already stored data in my folders, it uses that?"

"That's it. The data's all preloaded, so activating the Battlechips is a snap. It should be, anyway, in theory."

"No, it definitely is," Lan confirmed. "Way easier than using Battlechips normally, that's for sure."

"Well, that's good to hear," Yuichiro responded. "We don't have much data on that to go on. Only one other person has ever gotten the Cross Fusion to work for them properly. I'm a bit surprised you were able to do it, really."

"Really?" Lan adopted a puzzled look. "I did it completely by accident..."

"Well, that's not what I mean." Yuichiro sat down. "Whether or not you can Cross Fuse correctly depends on the relationship between the Navi and the operator, how synchronized the two of them are; right now, Cross Fusion is only feasible if the operator/Navi team have a Synchronicity Rating of 95 or higher."

"95? I bet me and Gustman have that easily!" Dex boasted. "There's no oner closer than me and him! Do you think we could do Cross Fusion?"

"Erm... no offense, Dex, but probably not," Yuichiro responded. "It takes an immense amount of synchronicity to get a rating that high. Mindset, construction, all sorts of things are considered in the rating. Maybe later, after more work on Cross Fusion, you'd be able to."

Dex grumbled, as Mayl spoke up. "But Lan can do it? He's got a 95?"

"Lan and Megaman, they've probably got a 99, to be frank," Lan's father answered, surprising almost everyone in the room. "They're probably the most synchronized team on the planet. It's because of the way Megaman is constructed, the two of them are about as synchronized as they can be."

"Wow, really?" Lan looked down into his PET. "Megaman, did you know that?"

"Yea, kinda," Megaman replied. "I was made that way, so the two of us would be really similar. I didn't know that it would let us do this Cross Fusion, though..."

"That was a bit of an unintended side effect," Dr. Hikari explained. "A fortunate one, though, in this case. If it weren't for you two, who knows what might have happened to us."

"Dr. Hikari?" Dex spoke up. "What's that Dimensional Core thing Frostman wanted? It sounds super powerful or important or something." He rubbed his neck lightly, remembering how far Frostman was going to go to get his hands on it.

"The Dimensional Core... hoo boy, he really wants one of those." Yuichiro leaned back against a mainframe unit. "It's basically the next evolution of a Dimensional Area and Cross Fusion."

Lan looked up again, intrigued, as his father continued. "Right now, programs can only come into the real world inside of a Dimensional Area. A Dimensional Core is basically a... sphere, I guess, that exists in the real world and the Net at the same time, and it acts as a direct link between the two. In the space immediately surrounding a Dimensional Core, it's like being in a Dimensional Area."

"Wouldn't it be better to just make a Dimensional Area, though?" Mayl wondered. "Those can be really big, why would you need a Core?"

"Well, there's one major difference." Yuichiro pushed up his glasses, making a mental note to get his frames adjusted. "A program, or a person, should be able to completely absorb a Dimensional Core and then they'd be able to Cross Fuse anywhere at all. That's why we're trying to synthesize one, then we can move to portable, temporary Cross Fusion. Think of the uses of that." The kids did exactly that, a bit awed by the possibilities.

"How long exactly would a Dimensional Core last?" Lan wondered. "Are we talking like a few hours, or..."

"A major core, like we're trying to create?" Yuichiro shook his head. "No, no, we're talking weeks. I'd say three weeks or so on a single Core."

"Wow, that's nuts," Lan responded, looking down at his PET and thinking of bringing Megaman into the real world whenever he wanted. "Forte could really use that for his... he could..."

Lan's eyes went wide, as realization hit him like a bag of bricks. With a Dimensional Core, Forte could materialize himself into the real world for weeks at a time. With his kind of power, he could do incalculable levels of damage on a mere whim, and with his Dark Aura, he could be close to indestructible. He would be able to bring this planet to his knees, just like he had threatened a month ago in Cream Square.

The gravity of the situation finally made itself clear to Lan. Forte, right now, had the knowledge, ability, and determination to turn himself into the ultimate destructive force. He didn't know how long it would take to create a Dimensional Core; weeks, days, maybe even mere hours, and then the entire world was at risk. Something had to be done, and it had to be done right away.

* * *

The plan was rather basic and hastily conceived. Forte would be lured away from the research lab by the projection of a Dark Chip signal, one that would surely be too much for him to ignore. As he battled with a number of stock Navis at a faraway location, Lan and Chaud would use a small, portable Dimensional Area to get inside Forte's lab. They would then Cross Fuse with their respective Navis and destroy all the equipment they could, as well as the generators creating the Dimensional Area. If all went well, Forte would return to a demolished lab, with Lan and Chaud long gone, along with Forte's research notes.

Lan looked down, slotting the last few chips in, then organized his preset folders. He had included a large number of slow yet powerful attacks, with some Program Advances thrown in for good measure, and a small amount of quick attacks like blades. Chaud had cautioned that while their main targets were large, immobile machines, the place would surely be guarded; if they were unlucky, there would be a powerful Dark Navi at the helm. Lan had planned accordingly, filling up as many folders as he was allowed and hoping his reflexes would hold out.

Lan wasn't alone. Mayl stood silently in the doorway, watching Lan work, her presence unknown to him. She stood watching the side of his face, trying to figure him out and failing miserably. He had been so energetic in demanding to stop Forte immediately, yet looking at him now, his face was solemn and resigned, as if he wasn't looking forward to what he had to do at all. Had he had a change of heart?

She eventually sighed and stepped forward into the room. "Hey..."

Lan looked over, a bit surprised but recognizing her instantly. "Oh, hey..."

"Is that... um... going well?" Mayl motioned to Lan's PET.

Lan looked down, knowing this was going to be a bit of an awkward conversation. "Yea, I guess so... as well as it's going to go, anyway."

Mayl sighed. "Lan, I'm confused... you told me earlier that you didn't want to do this, didn't you? But... that's what you're doing, right now. And you look like you hate doing it, too..."

Lan looked down, not saying anything, and Mayl continued. "Just... why? I don't understand... I mean, we just went through hell back there, and now you want to do it all over again? And we're all worried about you, that you're going to get hurt, me, your dad, even Dex... though he doesn't really show it, I guess..."

Lan smirked a little, sensing a rather cruel irony. "Heh... Mayl... how do you think I feel?"

Mayl blinked, not expecting that response, as Lan stood up and sighed. "You know, when me and Megaman first defeated Elecman all those months ago, it was like... the coolest thing I'd ever seen, you know? We were like superheroes, out of cartoons or comic books. It was really fun, for a little while. I felt like I could take on the world..."

Mayl walked forward curiously, as Lan continued. "Then... well, you know what happened next. That explosion... all those people hurt in just, like, a second... seeing you lying there, broken and bleeding and... ugh..." Lan rubbed his head and sat down. "You know three people died that day? I looked it up afterward. One of them could have been us."

Mayl continued to listen with wide eyes, never having heard this sort of thing come from Lan before. "It was around then that my attitude changed, I guess. I wasn't just a hero, I was a target too. As long as I kept trying to be the hero, the enemy was going to fight back, and it wasn't going to hit just me. Everyone I care about, my friends, my family, I'm putting every one of them at risk. Chaud was right that day..."

"But at the same time, it's... it's not that simple. Sometimes, even if I don't do anything, people are going to get hurt anyway. And if I DON'T do anything, they're going to get hurt even more, even worse... that's what's going on now, you know?"

He stood up again, feeling a little antsy. "I don't like being a hero, that's the truth. I don't like putting myself in danger, and I do get scared. But when there's trouble, I don't really have a choice, do I? Sometimes, I'm the only one who can do something, and if I don't, people are going to get hurt or worse." He leaned his head against the window. "I can't let that happen again... I promised it wouldn't happen again. I don't want to be the one who saves the day, but what I want just isn't important."

He sighed, finally having said all he had to say. Mayl stood motionless, partially in shock; she had never dreamed all those thoughts, all that pressure, could have been in Lan's mind all this time. He had just displayed a level of maturity and compassion she'd never seen from him before, and she felt a deep rush of affection for her longtime friend. The two stood in silence for a minute, Mayl not knowing what to say, and Lan not wanting to say anything more.

"Lan." The two of them turned around to see Chaud standing in the doorway; his eyes looked tired, but he was alert all the same. "Forte's on the move. Let's go." Lan nodded, getting up and walking toward the door, as Chaud headed off ahead of him.

"You should probably try and get some sleep," Lan advised, stepping up to Mayl. "It's really late, and me and Chaud aren't going to be back for hours... you shouldn't worry about us."

"Lan..." Mayl looked at him, a bit stunned; her eyes quickly filled with tears, and she flung her arms around his neck, holding him tightly and burying her face into his shoulder.

"Ah, geez..." Lan held her lightly and a bit awkwardly, as she tried to suppress sobs. "Enough of the waterworks, I'll be fine, really..."

"I'm sorry, Lan..." Mayl sniffled, not loosening her grip. "You're doing all of this for us, you're putting your life on the line, and we can't... I can't do anything to help you at all..."

"Mayl, you don't need to do anything for me," Lan replied, managing to separate her from him a little bit. "Just stay here and be safe, that's the whole reason I'm doing this, you know."

"I know..." Mayl wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "God, I'm just a complete wreck right now. Can't I go for more than two hours without bursting into tears somewhere?"

Lan laughed. "That's because you're exhausted, that's what I'm trying to tell you. Go lie down somewhere and sleep. I'll come back safe and sound, I promise."

Mayl smiled a bit and nodded, appreciating his words; Lan liked to put up a tough front and appear macho, like all twelve-year-old boys, but she knew he was a real sweetheart underneath that, and it was times like this that it really showed. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek, then hugged him tightly again.

"_Ave iyneci_," she spoke softly into his ear. "Please be careful, Lan. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you..."

Lan nodded, putting his arms around her as well, comforting her properly this time. "_Ave iyneci_" was one of a very small number of Ameroupic phrases that Lan understood. It was a common shorthand for the platonic Ameroupic phrase "_averit aerti iynecilud_" which translated roughly to "you are in my heart always". Mayl had used it often when she was younger, being a rather affectionate and playful little tyke; as the two of them had grown older, the phrase had become more infrequent, though more sincere as well.

"Lan!" Dr. Hikari's voice rang out harshly, causing the two of them to jump out of their shoes. "We don't have all night! Are you coming or not?!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Lan answered angrily, walking out into the hall; Mayl laughed, feeling better, and followed him out. The two of them went up to Dr. Hikari's office, Lan to be prepped for the mission ahead, and Mayl to find a nice bench to sleep on.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Lan and Chaud were being transported to Forte's research lab. Chaud was making adjustments on his PET, as Lan looked out the window, looking for the Dimensional Area that would soon come into view.

"So once we get in there, how exactly are we supposed to do this?" Lan wondered aloud. "Do we just run in guns blazing and destroy everything?"

"Of course not," Chaud responded, not looking up. "That's the perfect way to get every enemy inside on our backs. Just do as I say once we get in there."

"What?" Lan turned to him. "Why are you in charge all of a sudden?"

"Lan, I don't want to hear it," his father warned from the front seat. "Chaud has much more experience than you do in these sorts of situations. He's in charge, do as he says." Lan grumbled and folded his arms, as the car pulled over to the side of the road.

"You two should walk from here," Yuichiro stated. "If anything goes wrong, we'll be nearby, so contact us."

"Alright." Lan nodded. "Er... how?"

"Megaman should be able to take care of it," Yuichiro responded. "Now get moving. We don't know how much time you have until Forte returns."

Lan nodded and got out, along with Chaud, and they started moving toward the multicolored dome. Lan swallowed his nervousness and walked forward, trying not to think of the task ahead, but of the results once it was done. After a minute's walk, the two boys stood in front of the Dimensional Area, looking up.

"Ready?" Chaud inquired.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Lan answered. Chaud nodded, pulling a strange device out of his pocket and fiddling with it for a moment. After a second, a strange light emitted from the device and surrounded the both of them, and it quickly formed a small Dimensional Area that intersected with the larger one. A strange humming sound filled the air for a moment, and the rainbow wall immediately in front of them vanished, the two Dimensional Areas cutting themselves off. Lan and Chaud walked forward through the opening, into the larger dome.

"We're in," Chaud muttered. "Let's Cross Fuse, then." Lan nodded, holding up his PET and inserting the strange Synchro Chip he had received before. In a quick flash of light, Lan found himself once again surrounded by Megaman's armor; looking to his left, he saw Chaud standing beside him in red armor, wearing a pointed helmet and a green visor over his eyes. Without wasting a moment, Chaud began walking forward into the building, and Lan followed after.

"So what's the plan of attack here?" Lan whispered.

"Stealth," Chaud replied, as they approached the wide-open front door. "We destroy as much equipment as we can, as quietly as we can, before we get to the Dimensional Area generators. We need to buy as much time as we can before they find out we're here."

"Gotcha." Lan nodded, as they looked in the front entrance. Surprisingly, there was nobody in the immediate area; nobody was keeping guard, or working on anything on the various machines.

"Uh... where is everybody?"

"Good question," Chaud replied, peeking his head in and looking around. "My guess is they're all working on that Dimensional Core right now. No guards, even... Forte's recklessly overconfident."

Chaud stepped in and moved toward the nearest machine, forming a sword and swiftly severing the power cables. He then used a small blaster to make a hole in the side of the large, rectangular device, grabbing the hole and tearing the side of the machine clean off.

_Man, Chaud's all business, isn't he?_ Megaman pondered, as Chaud sliced away at the insides of the machine. Lan laughed lightly.

"Of course he is, you knew that already." Lan walked in as well, moving toward a projector style machine and cutting the power cord, following Chaud's lead closely. He then took his Long Sword and sliced straight through the projector horizontally, separating the top from the bottom; after looking at it for a second, he decided to leave it as it was, liking his handiwork.

"I'm going to head off in this direction," Chaud spoke, having taken care of the two machines on his end of the room. "If you find yourself in major trouble, just do what you do best and I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Er, that is...?" Lan prompted.

"Be very annoying and indiscrete," Chaud replied, walking down a hallway. Lan stuck his tongue out at Chaud's retreating back, before incapacitating another research device and moving down an opposite hallway.

"Geez, there's no one down here, either," Lan muttered, destroying devices quickly and silently as he walked along.

_They're probably all working on a Dimensional Core, like Chaud said,_ Megaman offered. _That's all he'd need to start taking over the world, or whatever he said he was going to do._

Lan nodded, looking around and seeing a doorway to his left. He approached it quietly, standing next to the entrance and peeking in as quickly as he could manage. Inside, a large number of standard-issue Navis were working at mainframe terminals, studying data, muttering to themselves, and other things. Lan could see from one of the terminals what they were all working on.

"Jackpot," Lan whispered to himself, ducking his head back out into the hallway. "Chaud was right on the money. That's the room we need to take out, more than any other."

_Sure looked like it to me,_ Megaman replied. _How are we supposed to get in there to do it, though? We can't fight off that many Navis, can we?_

"I've got an idea," Lan muttered, going through his Battlechips in his mind and activating a few; a second later, he was invisible, and held two Minibombs in his hand. He threw both down the hallway, past the door, where they exploded loudly, damaging nearby machinery.

"What the hell?!" voices cried out from inside the room. A number of Navis emptied out of the room, heading toward the burnt, damaged area to inspect what had happened. A few seconds after they had crowded around, another, larger explosion occurred, as a Mine was triggered right underneath their feet.

Inside the research room, the few Navis that remained moved toward the door, curious and nervous as to this sudden assault; they found themselves quickly bisected by an invisible Lan. His image returned just as he finished the last Navi off; looking around the room, he was pleased to find it empty.

"Excellent." He ran over to the nearest machine and stuck his sword right through the screen, inserting a Minibomb into it afterward. "Let's take care of this mess, as fast as we can. This should stop Forte in his tracks..."

"Hold it!" a voice called out from behind. Lan quickly turned around and yelped, diving away and barely dodging a massive drill head moving toward him. He quickly got back on his feet and looked toward the center of the room, to find a red-and-gray Navi standing and staring back. The Navi's head, hands, shoulders, and even his feet all seemed to be the components of one gigantic drill; he appeared to have been designed in a rather straightforward manner.

"Megaman!" the Navi exclaimed. "I should have known you'd be showing up, after Frostman failed to take care of you..."

Lan smirked. "Let me guess, you're probably named Drillman?"

The Navi snorted. "Very astute. Let's see if your battle skills are as good as your wisecracks!" Drillman leapt into the air and stiffened his body like a board, arms straight down at his sides, legs together. The massive drill parts on the various parts of his body clamped together, forming a giant, pointed drill, and he drove himself right at Lan.

"Whoa!" Lan dove out of the way, watching as Drillman flew by, before a mysterious hole in space opened up in front of him, and Drillman vanished into it, effectively disappearing into thin air. Lan blinked and stood up, looking around the room.

"Huh? Where'd he go? Did he run away?"

_I don't think so,_ Megaman offered. _Let's stay on our guard..._

Lan nodded, keeping his eyes and ears wide open. After a second, he heard a sound from behind him, and quickly whirled around to see Drillman appearing out of another hole in space, barreling right toward him. Lan put his hands out and caught Drillman's head as best as he could manage, but the force of the impact forced him back several feet before he could get a good footing.

"You think you're strong enough to stop me like that, do you?" Drillman taunted, still pushing his way toward Lan. "Let's find out!"

Lan gritted his teeth and tried to force Drillman back, a task he found extremely difficult. He'd made a mistake in doing this; if he was unable to force Drillman back, there'd be no way to stop himself from getting gored by the attack. He swallowed and pushed back with all his might.

"Give it up! You can't win!" Drillman laughed and forced himself forward with greater strength, as Megaman caught something red out of the corner of his eye. Drillman must have noticed it, as well, as he immediately backed off, barely dodging the attack from Chaud's sword.

"That didn't take you long," Lan mentioned.

"I'd say the same thing for you," Chaud replied, as Drillman returned to a standing position. "Stealth isn't your strong suit, is it?"

Lan smirked. "I found the Core room, didn't I? I figured that if we took this room out, we wouldn't have any more troubles."

Drillman frowned, not having expected any Navis from SciLab, let alone two. "Hm... this certainly makes things interesting. Time to raise my game, I'd say!" He pointed his arms at Lan and Chaud, firing oversized drill heads at the both of them, as they dodged.

"Well, here's some troubles," Chaud muttered. "Once we take care of him, we can destroy the Dimensional Area generator."

Lan nodded, moving forward with Chaud for a dual strike.

* * *

With a single swipe of his sword, Forte felled several more of the Navis that were assaulting him, at a Net location far from the site of Lan and Chaud's battle. Without a change of his expression, he quickly turned and drove his arm through another Navi, tossing it aside as it was deleted. After fighting his way through dozens of powerful Official Navis, he turned his attention toward the final remaining one.

"And then there was one..." Forte dashed forward and grasped the Navi by the throat, raising him into the air. The Navi grabbed at Forte's hand, trying to pry it away, as Forte continued.

"I'm curious... did you really think that this diversion of yours was going to accomplish anything?"

The Navi's eyes widened. "What... how did you..."

Forte laughed derisively. "Oh come on, do you think I'm stupid? You can't possibly defeat me in battle, and you know full well where my research is taking place. There is only one reason you would try something so asinine."

"But..." the Navi gasped. "But you came..."

Forte smirked. "I figured it couldn't hurt to humor you pathetic souls. I've left my lab in more than capable hands. Megaman alone won't be able to stop the Navi I've left behind."

The Navi laughed. "That's just it... he's not alone. There is another..."

"What?!" Forte pulled the Navi closer. "You're lying. I've never heard of anyone successfully Cross Fusing before Megaman and his operator."

"This... we kept it close to our chest," the Navi responded. "Figured it'd come in handy..."

"Grah! Dammit!" Forte tossed the Navi to the ground. "Careless... this isn't over!" Forte sped off quickly toward his lab. The Navi rubbed his throat, knowing it would be some time before Forte managed to return; he hoped that would be enough time for Lan and Chaud to finish their task.

* * *

Lan fired a Vulcan Cannon wildly at Drillman's body, as his opponent once again turned into a giant metal drill; one or two of the miniscule bullets connected, as the rest ricocheted wildly about the room, and Drillman vanished once again into a hole. Lan steeled himself and listened to the room, as Chaud looked arond confusedly.

"What's this?" Chaud wondered aloud. "Where the heck did he go?"

"Ssh!" Lan silenced him. "He's going to reappear somewhere, but you can't-"

Lan didn't get to finish, as Drillman appeared right behind him and delivered a powerful kick to Lan's head; he went flying across the room, crashing into a wall and falling to the floor. He didn't get back up.

"Damn..." Chaud turned back toward Drillman, who laughed.

"So much for the great Megaman, I suppose!" he taunted. "And now to finish you off..." Drillman aimed his pointed hands in Chaud's direction, firing a large number of drill bits. Chaud had to move quickly to dodge all of them, twisting and jumping and diving; as they concluded, Drillman dashed forward and drove his foot into Chaud's gut, knocking him over, then elbowed him in the face, knocking him across the room.

Chaud slammed into a wall, shaking his head and trying to regain composure, when a number of drills started shooting up out of the ground, almost completely trapping him. Chaud looked around, wiping blood from his face, and saw Drillman standing directly in front of him, grinning evilly.

"I wouldn't try moving if I were you," Drillman offered. "You'll just end up experiencing even more pain before your inevitable doom." Laughing, Drillman once again formed himself into a giant drill, barreling straight toward Chaud, ready to put an end to this battle.

"Hey, ugly!" a voice rang out from another corner of the room. Drillman only had time to turn and look, as the massive, powerful, green blade of a Life Sword 3 came rushing toward him, slicing straight through his metallic drill armor and cutting him in half. Drillman's two halves fell to the ground in front of Chaud, as the drills around him stopped appearing.

"You alright?" Lan asked, walking up to Chaud, who wiped more blood from his nose where he'd been struck.

"I'll live," Chaud answered. "Playing dead, were we?"

Lan smirked. "I thought it'd buy me some time. It worked, didn't it?"

"Yea, it did. Good thinking there." Lan nodded and walked off, in search of the Dimensional Area generator, as Chaud applied a Recovery 10 chip to himself. "That'll at least stop the bleeding..." As he continued wiping blood off of his face, a clear sound of metal slicing through metal could be heard from the next room, and Chaud's body glowed white again as Protoman's armor vanished from his body, reforming his PET.

"Finally..." Lan walked in from the other room, appearing very exhausted. "It's over, for now... we should call my dad, let them know they can come in and finish tearing this place up."

"I'm sure they'll be on their way," Chaud mentioned, pulling out his PET. "They've been watching this place the whole time... ugh, Protoman's not in my PET."

"Huh? Where else would he be?"

Chaud walked along the wall of the building, finding a jack-in port and plugging in his PET's cable. "Sometimes a Navi won't return to the PET after Cross Fusion. They'll be in a nearby network instead."

"Really?" Lan pulled out his PET, and sure enough, Megaman was not to be found inside. "Huh, whaddya know..."

"They haven't worked out all the bugs yet, remember," Chaud reminded, unplugging himself from the wall with Protoman safely back in his PET. Lan plugged himself into another jack-in port, and his PET found Megaman a couple seconds later.

"Megaman!" Lan called out, causing his Navi to whirl around. "Are you alright?"

Megaman smiled and nodded. "Yea, I'm fine; you look pretty good too."

Lan grinned. "Finally done with... for now, anyway. Forte won't be able to make a Dimensional Core in conditions like these, will he?"

Megaman shook his head. "Probably not, no. After SciLab comes in and finishes demolition, definitely not."

Lan nodded back, smiling, when his eye noticed something in the corner of his PET's screen. Something very familiar...

"Megaman, look out!" Lan called out. Megaman blinked and whirled around, trying to find this danger, when a thin, purple beam of energy shot straight through Megaman's chest. Megaman's eyes went wide, as the beam knocked him backward, his body suddenly lax; he had had no time to react, and barely enough time to see his attacker.

"No!" Lan desperately tried to jack Megaman out, but it was already too late; the attack had cut his Navi down instantaneously. Several yards back, Forte sighed, as his pointed finger returned underneath his cloak.

"Far too careless..." he repeated to himself. "And Drillman was much too incompetent... as usual, I have to do everything myself. This will set me back..."

Forte disappeared in a flash of light, as Megaman's frame lay lazily on the ground. Lan could do nothing but watch, horrified, as his Navi slowly dissolved away, deleted, into the air of Cyberspace.


	34. Chapter 8: Recovery

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 3: The Rise And Fall Of Forte_

* * *

Chapter 8: Recovery

Lan sat, numb, on the bench in his father's office, which was becoming increasingly familiar with human company at this point. He stared into his PET in disbelief, unable to accept that Megaman was gone; there was some tiny part of him that expected his Navi to walk onto the screen, apologizing for being late or something to that effect. The screen remained empty.

He had been a complete idiot. For days now, he had been continually concerned with the safety of his friends, his family, and himself; the stress had affected his sleep, and his attitude. Throughout all of it, he hadn't paid any mind to his Navi. Over the past week, he had come to think of Megaman as more of an extension of himself than as a partner; he had never dreamed that it would come to this, that suddenly Megaman wouldn't be there. He sighed sadly, disappointed in himself more than anything. He had let his partner down.

He was completely oblivious to the goings-on around him as he sat. His father was typing frivolously at a computer with one hand, while holding his PET phone with the other, issuing a number of orders. Mayl, feeling fresh from several hours of sleep, was mimicking Lan's actions from earlier, pre-loading Battlechips into her PET in anticipation; Chaud was standing next to Yuichiro, familiarizing himself with the task that lay ahead. Lan was an island of inactivity and depression, in a sea of anticipation and action.

"Well, I've gotten who I can to help out," Yuichiro commented. "Two Officials on late-night duty. They'll be here in just a few minutes, hopefully."

"What we need is someone who can navigate these areas," Chaud contributed, pointing to various spots on a digitized map. "They're looking even worse than the Undernet at this point."

"Way ahead of you," Yuichiro responded. "She'll be here soon as well, and she'll be at least able to navigate some of these locks. Against all the viruses, though, we're going to need all the help we can get."

He stood up, pushing his chair back with his legs. "Meanwhile, we should get ready. We don't have a lot of time." He walked away from his computer and toward the hallway; Mayl looked up from her seat.

"Is this it? We're going?" she asked. Yuichiro nodded, and she hopped up, eager to get going. "Um, Dr. Hikari, do you think you could take a look at Roll later? I've never been able to back her up right either... I might be doing it wrong."

"Huh? Oh, um... yea, sure thing." The group walked toward the door, while Lan stayed put, still feeling hollow.

"Lan, come on!" his father encouraged. "Do you want to see us get Megaman back or not?" Lan sat still for a second before answering.

"Yea... yea, I'm coming." He slowly got to his feet and walked after the others, trying to find the optimism he had held during Frostman's attack. Mayl followed him out, rubbing his shoulder gently, as the foursome headed downstairs, to another part of SciLab.

* * *

The instant Yuichiro learned that Megaman had been deleted, he had leapt into action, surprising both Lan and Chaud. According to him, all SciLab networks were equipped with failsafes for deleted materials; if anything was deleted on a SciLab network, a copy of it was moved to another location, in case the researchers needed to retrieve accidentally deleted information. Megaman, being a particularly complex Navi, probably wouldn't be replicated in his entirety, but enough of him would remain to restore him from the partial backups made to the SciLab mainframe. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bit more complicated than that.

"Normally, we'd be able to go right in and retrieve the data," Yuichiro recapped for the group, as they walked into another room; to Mayl and Lan, it looked almost like any other room in SciLab, and they wondered how Dr. Hikari managed to keep them all straight. "The problem is that a few months back, World Three started encroaching on SciLab territory, sort of annexing it for their own purposes."

"They took it over?" Lan clarified.

"Yea, pretty much." Yuichiro sat down at a chair in front of a large computer terminal. "They set up a number of locks to block off parts of the Net, and now it's plagued with viruses to boot, powerful ones. So we need a crew of skilled Netbattlers to fight them off, and we need it right away."

"Search and rescue... heh, I bet Dex would have loved to be part of this," Lan spoke, rubbing some sleep out of his eye; Dex had been forced home by his rather worried father several hours before.

"Why do we need to rush?" Mayl asked, double-checking Roll and her PET.

"That backup data doesn't stick around forever," Chaud answered. "It's deleted once a week, and the next scheduled cleanup is in about two hours. And with all these World Three barriers in place, we can't stop it."

"Exactly," Yuichiro nodded. "We would have gotten around to it earlier, but we've been incredibly busy, I'm sure you know." He rubbed his forehead with two fingers. "Alpha, Cybeasts, Forte... it's been an absolute clusterf... well... yea. You know."

"So, these World Three barriers or whatever, we'll be able to just force our way through them?" Lan wondered; having started to put aside his disappointment in himself, he was feeling more hopeful about this endeavor.

"No, we won't need to do that." Yuichiro pulled up a map of the network layout where they would be going. "I've called in somebody who knows how to get through them, someone who's... ah, speak of the devil." He looked toward the hallway, followed by everyone else, as the sound of footsteps became audible. "That should be them now."

Lan watched as several figures came into view. First through the door was a tall, female Official with brown pigtails, who looked like she was built for business, anything but frail. The next person was a man wearing his own Official jacket, blond hair and blue eyes, looking not so much like a fighter. Lan didn't pay attention to either, however, once the third person walked in; he instantly recognized the red puffball hair and the smug expression.

"You!" Lan exclaimed, standing up. "What are you doing here?!"

Iroaya Madd blinked, rather surprised herself, then burst out laughing. "Oh God, you're kidding me. It's your Navi I'm helping to get back?"

Lan gritted his teeth in anger, not wanting to see her here, as she wiped her eyes and walked forward. "Geez, that's rich. Never thought I'd be helping out this twerp someday."

"I don't need help from someone like you!" Lan shot back, marching over toward her, frustrated with the presence of one of his former enemies. Iroaya smirked, holding him back by placing her index finger against his forehead.

"Hate to break it to you, kid, but yea you do," she taunted, as the rest of the room watched the exchange. "You'll never get past those World Three locks without my help. Deal with it." She pushed him away with her finger and walked toward Dr. Hikari, pulling out her PET; Lan continued to glare, not liking her presence.

"Okay, stop antagonizing each other, please," Yuichiro requested. "We've got work to do, and we don't have long. Is everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded in response, and Yuichiro gestured to a nearby table surrounded by jack-in ports, with a holographic display on top. They crowded around and plugged in their PETs one by one, sending themselves into the Cyberworld; Lan squeezed into a vacant spot, wanting to watch the action.

Inside the Cyberworld, Roll, Protoman, Colorman, and three Official Navis stood in front of a large, orange, translucent wall, marked with the W3 symbol of the World Three organization.

"All yours, Colorman," one of the Official Navis spoke. Colorman rolled forward and put his hands on the wall, as Iroaya entered a passcode into her PET.

"Piece of cake!" Colorman spoke happily, as the wall began to dissolve. As the barrier withered away, however, a small, lightning-fast Ratton 3 virus scurried out, winding its way among the Navis' feet and rolling right to Colorman, where it exploded violently.

"No! Colorman!" Iroaya called out, shocked, as the rest of the group looked on. When the smoke cleared, Colorman was lying on the ground, unconscious and severely damaged.

"Damn..." Yuichiro muttered. "They've gotten even worse, these viruses..."

"Hold on!" Roll called out, pushing her way toward Colorman. She knelt down next to him and put her hands on his torso, focusing herself. A second later, Colorman's body began to glow with a bright pink light, one which quickly faded; when the light disappeared, Colorman's frame was completely repaired.

"Wha...?" Lan turned toward Mayl, followed by everyone else, as she ejected a used-up Recovery chip from her PET. She looked up and blinked at all the faces pointed in her direction.

"Er... I've been practicing..." she spoke, a bit pink in the face. "Me and Roll learned how to control her healing... thing, I'm not sure..."

"Like at the Electopian tournament," Lan recalled, grinning. "That's awesome, Mayl!"

She looked down, smiling and a bit embarrassed, as Yuichiro pushed his glasses up. "Well, let's hope you've got a lot of Recovery chips on you, we're probably going to need them. That'll be easier than all of us stopping to recover individually."

Mayl nodded, and the group once again turned their attention back toward the Cyberworld, where Colorman was dusting himself off. As he did, they heard the howling of a large number of Spiky viruses in the distance.

"Come on, guys, let's move!" the female Official spoke. The group of Navis quickly took off toward their destination.

* * *

Reaching the backup data took longer than they had planned, an amazing hour and forty minutes. Finally, after a great deal of effort, they had reached the final wall, which Colorman quickly got to deconstructing, as the other five worked on eliminating the numerous viruses that were attacking.

"Whee! We did it, Iroaya!" Colorman called out, as the wall disappeared. A large pit, filled about three-fourths of the way with junk data, came into view.

"Great job!" Iroaya responded, as the group ran back and dived, in unison, into the pit, digging through and looking for Megaman's frame.

"Geez, look at all of this!" Roll exclaimed, darting about the surface of the data. "How are we supposed to find Megaman in all of this garbage?"

"Just dig!" Yuichiro's Navi responded. "It can't be too far from the top, it was only deleted a few hours ago!"

Roll started digging carefully through the data, looking for a blue body, a hand, anything. "Well, it's not like we have a lot of tiEEK!" Everyone whirled around as Roll shrieked, to see her being pulled under the surface by some mysterious force.

"What?!" Protoman ran over to where she was pulled under, followed by the other Navis, and they all looked down at the data below their feet. Two seconds later, a mild explosion sent bits of data flying, and Roll's hands could be seen climbing back out.

"What happened?" Colorman inquired, as the Officials reached their hands down to pull Roll out.

"There's something down there... something strong," Roll answered, catching her breath, as the others continued to look downward, for any sign of movement.

"Something's definitely moving..." the female Official commented; bits of data on the surface were shifting ever so slightly, marking a sort of trail. As they watched, the disruption in the data got larger and larger; whatever was down there was about to surface.

"Look out!" Protoman called out, as a huge, monstrous creature burst out of the sea of junk. Its torso visible and clearly formed haphazardly from junk data, it seemed to have the body of a lion, along with a red mane, but it was accompanied by two highly deformed humanoid hands, one of them much larger than the other. Its yellow, glowing eyes were shining out of its jagged mouth.

"Oh God, what is that?!" Roll exclaimed, as the creature's eyes swept over the six Navis. "Is it a virus?"

"I'm not sure," Yuichiro replied. "It looks more like a Navi... but where did it come from? Did it just form here spontaneously?"

"You... cannot be here," the junk Navi spoke, with a voice that sounded like metal grinding against metal. "My home... you leave... now!" It lifted up its arms and slammed them downward, trying to squish the Navis below his deformed fists, as they all dived out of the way.

"We don't have time for this!" Protoman cursed and turned toward Roll and Colorman. "You two, keep looking for Megaman! We'll take care of this!" The two Navis nodded, and Roll dove underneath the data, digging through as fast as she could manage, as Colorman split himself into two.

"Alright, let's take this thing out as quickly as we can!" the male Official called out, as the four remaining Navis charged the junk monster.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Roll was still swimming through the sea of data, trying to locate Megaman's frame. She was deep now, close to the bottom, and the battle above her had become completely inaudible. She searched faster, with a sense of urgency; she knew that she had very little time left before everything in the pit would be deleted permanently.

"Hm?" Digging a little further forward, she saw a portion of a blue foot in front of her; she grabbed it and pulled hard, but shrieked when the foot separated completely from whatever it was attached to.

"Omigosh! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, flustered, before taking another look at the object she held in her hand; while it was definitely a Navi's foot, she decided it probably wasn't Megaman's after all. Sighing, she tossed it aside and continued digging, only to encounter the bottom corner of the data pit.

"Huh?" She blinked, confused; this meant she had gone through the entire pit of data. She thought back, wondering what she could possibly have missed, when the junk creature roared loudly, just barely loud enough for Roll to hear.

Roll's eyes went wide with understanding. The only junk data that she hadn't checked was currently engaged in battle with Protoman and the others. If they destroyed it...

"No!" She started swimming upward, trying to get to the surface and warn the others of what was about to happen.

Back on the surface, the three Official Navis were distracting the creature, whom they were referring to as "Junkman", with a variety of light arms; Junkman, in turn, was picking up data from all around him, flinging it at the Navis around him. Protoman had managed to get behind Junkman and had his arms outstretched in front of him, preparing a Hyper Burst Program Advance.

"Ready," he commented, as he aimed the powerful cannon at Junkman's back; right before he fired, he was knocked away by a mass of pink, and the Hyper Burst blasts only grazed Junkman's shoulder. The creature roared and turned around, angered.

"Roll!" Protoman exclaimed, pushing her off of him. "What are you doing?!"

"You can't destroy him!" Roll exclaimed. "Megaman... he's..."

Roll didn't get a chance to finish her sentence, as a bright light started to shine through the data they were standing on; it glowed threateningly, and Roll got a sick feeling that she knew what was happening.

"The data's being destroyed!" Yuichiro's Navi called out, running toward the edge. "Everybody get out now!"

"But we can't! Megaman!" Roll cried out; Protoman quickly stood up and grabbed her by the wrist, running toward the edge and jumping out of the data pit, pulling Roll behind him. They got out just in time, as the entire data pile went up in digitized flame. Junkman's pained roars rent the air, and the group of Navis watched, dismayed, as the entire pile of data was turned to ash and deleted.

"No... Mega..." Roll shook her head sadly, holding her head in her hand.

"Ahem." The Navis all jumped and turned around, surprised, to find a Navi standing behind them, decked out in blue samurai armor and holding a long spear in his left hand. The body he gripped with his right hand was also generally blue in color, and the others didn't take notice, until the samurai Navi threw the limp body forward at their feet.

"Megaman!" several Navis exclaimed at once, as Roll bent down next to his head, inspecting him for damage.

"Why do you have his frame?" Protoman demanded, stepping forward. "Who are you?"

The Navi bowed slightly to Protoman. "I am Yamatoman, a humble servant of the queen of the Undernet."

"Queen of the Undernet...?" Lan wondered to himself.

"She rescued this Navi's frame as soon as it entered this space," Yamatoman continued. "She has had her eye on the workings of Forte for some time, and has grown rather distressed."

He turned away. "She says that the balance has shifted; the situation has turned for the worst. Action will be taken..."

"What are you talking about?" Yuichiro's Navi demanded; Yamatoman didn't respond, vanishing in a beam of light, leaving the remaining Navis dumbfounded.

* * *

"How are you feeling, Megaman?" Lan asked eagerly; the restoration process had finished only moments ago, and his father removed a special cable from Lan's PET.

"Fine... I guess..." Megaman rubbed his arm, looking down. "Pride's hurt pretty badly..."

"Well, you're back," Lan reminded him. "Could be a lot worse..."

"Yea..." Megaman sighed. "One shot... that's all he needed, and I was gone. I'm nothing next to him now..."

Yuichiro nodded, sitting down. "He's more powerful than I gave him credit for originally. And astoundingly intelligent, too. I don't know how we're going to defeat him now..."

The room was silent for a minute, before Megaman spoke up. "There is one thing we can try, you know..."

"Oh, for Pete's sake," Yuichiro spoke, rubbing his forehead. "I knew this was going to come up eventually..."

"We're running low on options," Megaman responded. "It could give me all the strength I need to finish Forte off for good."

"What?" Lan blinked, having no idea what either of them were talking about, as Yuichiro continued.

"It could, there's no doubt about that. It's extraordinarily powerful, but incredibly dangerous, too. To both of you, not just you, Megaman."

"What's dangerous is letting Forte continue to do what he's doing," Megaman shot back. "Everything that happened yesterday, he'll be able to do it again before long, and probably on a much larger scale. Nobody's safe until Forte is deleted."

Yuichiro sighed. "You know, when I was a kid, I did what my father told me, no questions asked... and now, I'm starting to feel like the bad guy for looking out for my children. For Pete's sake..."

"What the heck are you guys talking about?" Lan spoke up, annoyed. "What's this dangerous thing?"

Yuichiro sat up, looking toward Lan. "Lan, I've never told you where Megaman came from, have I?"

Lan blinked. "Um... no, I guess not, but..."

"Well, have a seat." Yuichiro pushed a chair toward Lan. "You're about to find out."

Lan sat down, curious, as Yuichiro began to tell his story.


	35. Chapter 9: The Other Hikari

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 3: The Rise And Fall Of Forte_

* * *

Chapter 9: The Other Hikari

"Megaman, in part, is a Navi that I've been working on for an extremely long time," Yuichiro began, as Lan and Megaman listened in; Megaman knew this story back to front, but Lan listened closely, never having heard it before, or having really thought much about Megaman's origins.

"When I was in grad school, I was doing a lot of work with Navis, as I've probably told you. Everyone was, really. Navi research was exploding right at that time. A man named Mikhail Cossack was at the head of it, and I was lucky enough to be studying under him. So was Lucius."

"Did something happen to make it explode like that?" Lan asked.

Yuichiro nodded. "Forte happened, actually."

"What?!" Lan goggled. "You knew about... what? Forte was why research was so big?"

"They didn't teach you that in school?" Yuichiro raised an eyebrow. "Forte was absolutely instrumental in making modern Navis, back many years ago when he still called himself Bass. He was far stronger and smarter than any Navi we could make, so we did our best to study his construction. That's what I was doing under Dr. Cossack, I was analyzing Bass."

"Anyway." He pushed his glasses up and continued. "I spent a long time trying to figure his composition, around a year and a half when all was said and done. I kept trying to find a pattern to it. Then one day, an old college friend of mine took a look at it, and he said it reminded him of a strand of human DNA.

"Now of course human DNA is way too complex to replicate, let alone mass-produce, so I didn't think much about it. Once we were done researching Bass, however, I spent some time looking into it; I wondered what would happen if I made a Navi whose systems operated based on human DNA."

"So... is that Megaman? Is he part human or something?" Lan interrupted.

"Lan, for Pete's sake, let me finish," Yuichiro answered. "There's a reason I'm dragging this out. Kids today, so impatient..." Lan nodded and let his father continue.

"Anyway, with Lucius's help, I developed a way to construct Navis based on human DNA. Then I borrowed a number of DNA sources and tried it out; I would nick some from friends, professors, even tried some from your mother at one point. None of them worked out the way I thought they would, though. They worked fine, but no better than your typical Navi, you know? I felt like I was on the wrong track.

"Then, one day, I decided to try it out using DNA from my sister, your aunt Fusae. For some reason, the Navi I created then was immensely strong; not as strong as Bass, but far greater than any stock model Navi, to be certain. I didn't have any idea why that happened, so I showed it to Dr. Regal so I could get his opinion. When he tried the Navi out, though, all its strength was just... gone. It was just like any other Navi I made."

"Weird..." Lan wondered aloud. "Did it lose all its strength overnight or something?"

Yuichiro shook his head. "No, that wasn't it. When I tried to operate the Navi again, it worked spectacularly. Accidentally destroyed a part of something he was working on. Set him back like three days." He smirked at the memory.

"You mean, you made a Navi that was only stronger when you operated it?" Lan blinked; this was a concept he had never heard of before.

"Yes, that's exactly what was going on, actually." His father stood up and headed to a nearby chalkboard, grabbing a piece of chalk. "As it turns out, if an operator and a Navi have a close DNA match, there's going to be an amazing power increase from the Navi." He quickly sketched a picture of an exponential curve to illustrate the point.

"So I figured, if I made a Navi based on my own DNA, it should be ridiculously strong, right? So I tried it out... boy, was that a mistake."

"How come?" Lan inquired; he wasn't quite sure how this was relevant, but was curious anyway.

"Well, I was right, it was incredibly powerful. It was easily the most powerful Navi I'd ever seen; it completely left Bass in the dust. When I operated it, too, I entered a very strange state of synchronization with the Navi. It was as if I barely had to think and it could execute what I wanted it to. Being in that state very quickly drained my body of its energy, though, and I ended up passing out about ten minutes in. Had to go to the emergency room and everything."

"Eesh... doesn't sound that great anymore," Lan commented.

His father chuckled. "Yea, that's what I said. The experience put me off, and I stopped looking into it for quite some time. I wouldn't pick it up again until about a year later, when your mother came to me with a rather big surprise."

* * *

In a distant, rather lonely part of the Net, a lone Navi stood, waiting. His oversized, bat-like ears stood atop his purple frame, taking in his surroundings. Suddenly they tensed and shifted, sensing a change in the environment; someone was coming. The Navi didn't move as another approached from behind.

"I understand you had some information to offer us," Protoman spoke.

The other Navi snorted. "I thought we were going to arrange a deal. I don't just give things out for free, you know."

"That depends on what you want." Chaud's Navi stepped forward. "And who you are, for that matter."

"I am known as Shademan," the bat Navi replied. "Currently the unwilling servant of Forte..."

Protoman raised his eyebrow. "Unwilling?"

"I exist to serve a darkness far greater than you can comprehend." Shademan folded his arms. "An evil that pervades the land and corrupts those with weak hearts... one that has taken root on this Earth, and is spreading slowly as we speak."

"Hmph." The Official Navi brandished a sword cautiously. "What is this grand evil, exactly?"

"I think you will encounter it before too long." Shademan's arms unfolded. "In any case, Forte has come across this evil himself. He's learned how to extract pieces of it, and use it for his purposes."

"Dark Chips, I imagine."

The purple Navi nodded slowly. "Not just any Dark Chips, either. Pure Dark Chips, ones that do not destroy the Navi with prolonged use. These chips are evil in its purest form, and they've fallen into the hands of a very dangerous Navi."

"How did he get his hands on this evil, anyhow?" Protoman demanded. "It doesn't seem to me like something so powerful would be easily defeated."

Shademan snickered. "On the contrary, Mr. Official Navi. Immensely powerful, yet completely defenseless. It is not sentient, this darkness. That is why it needs me to protect it... and I failed in my task. Forte managed to exceed even my strength, fueled by the darkness though I am. And now I am forced to work as his servant..." He shuddered at the horrible thought, as Protoman watched curiously.

"And now you want to help us defeat him, so you can be free again?"

The purple Navi held up his fist, still facing away from Chaud's Navi. "This item here, I think you will find it quite useful. A small sample of what I have to offer..."

Still somewhat skeptical, Protoman stepped forward to receive the item. As his hand reached out for the clenched fist, Shademan quickly whirled around, his arm transforming into a Dark Cannon, which he fired directly into his enemy's face. The dark energy blast engulfed Protoman's body completely with its massive power; as the darkness faded, however, Protoman remained unscathed, protected by a large, red-and-white shield.

"That was pathetic." The shield disappeared, and Protoman pointed his Long Sword at Shademan's throat. "Did you really think we wouldn't be prepared for such a trap? You don't think much of Officials, clearly."

Shademan smirked, long claws extending from his hands. "I thought I could get a quick upper hand, but it seems this battle won't be quite so easy." He swiped away at Protoman, who dodged quickly. "Nonetheless, you will meet your demise here!"

"We'll just see who falls today!" Protoman retorted, as their impromptu battle began.

* * *

"As it turns out," Lan's father continued, "she found out that she was pregnant. Came as quite a bit of a surprise to us..."

"Huh?" Lan uttered, a bit confused. "How can a baby be a surprise? Don't you know when you're going to have one? How does that even work?"

"Well... that's... look, I'll tell you when you're older." Yuichiro rubbed his forehead with her thumb and forefinger. "That's not important right now. Anyway, we went to the doctor and she was right, she was pregnant. And twelve years ago, on your birthday, she gave birth to two identical twins."

"What...?" Lan stared, surprised; he had never in his life heard this information. "Twins? But... I'm not a twin, am I?"

Yuichiro sighed. "No, Lan, you are... you are the younger of two identical twins. Your older brother, Hub, was born about an hour before you were."

"What..." Lan sat back, dumbstruck by this information. "I have a brother...? But... why didn't I ever hear about this?"

"Your mother and I have always been rather hesitant to tell you..." Yuichiro began to explain. "You see, you came out just fine, strong and healthy and crying up a storm. Hub... he wasn't doing so well. His lungs hadn't formed correctly, and he needed to be put on life support, right away."

Lan looked up, eyes wide with intrigue, as his father continued. "Weeks went by, and little Hub showed some signs of improvement, but not many. The doctor told us that there was a 60% chance that he would live, and that we should prepare ourselves for the worst."

Yuichiro sighed. "Your mother and I were both completely distraught. Even with the odds in our favor, we couldn't bear the thought of losing either of you. The worst part was feeling completely helpless, like there wasn't anything I could do for my son... and then, about a month after you two were born, I remembered my experiments with Navis and human DNA."

"Huh, I get it... you wanted to sort of make a Navi out of..." Lan's voice trailed off, and his mind came to the astounding truth, all the pieces of the story falling into place. "No... you didn't... you're not serious..." He looked down at his PET, his mind blown.

Yuichiro nodded. "I did... I used your brother's DNA, his mind, his personality, and I assembled all of it into a Navi. Megaman is, in effect, your twin brother, Hub."

"But... how can..." Lan didn't even know what to ask first; he could barely process this new information he had received. All these months, he thought that Megaman was just another custom Navi; all these years, he had always thought he was an only child. His world had been turned upside down, in one instant of epiphany.

The room sat in silence for a moment, before Lan picked up his PET and looked in. "Mega... did you know all this?"

Megaman nodded in response. "I've always known, yea. Mom and Dad told me what happened a long time ago. They asked me not to tell you, though..."

"We thought if you knew the truth, you'd be reluctant to use him," Yuichiro added. "Lord knows your mother had no problems with that. But she eventually agreed that we couldn't keep him cooped up in the SciLab computers any longer. It's like not letting your child go outside to play."

"You're not kidding," Megaman contributed. "After eleven years in SciLab, I was going completely batty. I had to go out and do stuff! Bust some viruses, whatever!"

Yuichiro laughed. "You two are twins, alright. So yea, after improving his strength and defenses, just in case, we finally brought him home and put him into your PET. We just tried to make sure you were careful with him from that point on."

"Which I wasn't..." Lan sighed. "Constantly having him battle, going up against criminal organizations... sorry about that, Mega. Now I feel like a complete selfish jerk... geez..."

Megaman smiled. "Don't worry about it, Lan. I'm a NetNavi, that's the only thing I've ever known. Virus busting is just something I do." He stretched his arm. "Besides, I actually enjoy it. And I'm good at it, too."

Lan smiled a bit. "You're not wrong there..." He looked up at his father again. "So, Hub... the human one... he died? His health got worse?"

His father nodded soberly in response. "Yes and no." He sat down again. "When I created Megaman, I had to bring Hub here, to SciLab, and his life-support equipment as well. You were actually there, too, with your mother, though no doubt you don't remember it. You were only a month old, after all.

"I hooked Hub up to the right machinery and began inputting everything about him into the Navi that would become Megaman. That worked perfectly, as you can tell, but once it was done... for some reason, Hub's life support machines all malfunctioned, pretty much at the same time. We called an ambulance, and they got there as fast as they could, but it was too late... there was no saving Hub by then."

He sighed, slumping in his chair. "The only explanation for it is that the two processes conflicted dangerously... I hadn't even thought of something like that happening. I was careless... and this is what happened because of it..." He wiped his eyes reflexively.

"It's not your fault, Dad..." Megaman offered.

"Thanks..." Yuichiro responded. "I'm fine, I'm fine..."

"No, really," Megaman said, a little more sternly, which surprised Lan. "It's not your fault..."

The room sat in awkward silence for a second, not sure where exactly to go from here. After a few seconds, a rather distinct, feminine sneeze issued forth from the hallway, causing Lan and Yuichiro to look toward the door in surprise. A second later, a rather red-faced Mayl emerged from behind the door.

"Er... hi..." she said, looking down.

"Hey..." Lan blinked, rather surprised.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop..." she continued, walking into the room. "I just heard you two talking, so I wanted to see what it was about, and then... I couldn't really stop listening... sorry..."

"So you heard pretty much everything, then?" Lan's father prompted; Mayl nodded meekly, and Yuichiro sighed. "Well, have a seat, I guess... no reason to shoo you away now, after you've heard as much as you have. Just remember, you can't tell anyone else what you're about to hear. This doesn't leave this room."

Mayl nodded again, taking a seat next to Lan, as Lan looked up. "So, all this... how does this relate to... whatever you and Megaman were talking about?"

"Yes, right." Yuichiro sat up straight. "So after that, I spent some years watching over Megaman with your mother; she would stop by every single day and talk with him. She wanted to homeschool him, sort of, but I convinced her that it wouldn't be necessary. After a couple years, once we had gotten him situated, my mind went back to his construction."

Yuichiro gestured toward the curve he had drawn on the chalkboard. "Remember, you two are identical twins. It's hard to find two people with DNA naturally closer than that. When I realized this, I realized what sort of power we could be dealing with if you were going to be operating him."

"So is that why Megaman's so strong?" Mayl wondered aloud. Yuichiro chuckled in response.

"If you think he's strong now... you two don't have any idea," he replied. "And I didn't either. I wasn't sure what kind of strength Megaman would exhibit, so one day, when you were about four years old, I decided to find out..."

* * *

Yuichiro Hikari stood at a mainframe, making some last-minute preparations for the experiment ahead. Beside him, a couple of aides, graduate students as usual, continued their business of making sure everything was ready to go. He grinned as he entered the final few figures into the machine; he was looking forward to this experiment, excited to see the results.

He turned to a nearby computer screen, where a medium-sized blue Navi could be seen. "Are you ready, Megaman?"

"Uh huh!" Megaman nodded. "I can't wait!"

Yuichiro grinned and turned back to the control panel, ensuring everything was set up properly. After a couple weeks of preparation, he would finally be able to see Megaman's true power. With the help of his colleagues, he had managed to set up a system of Navi operation that would simulate the DNA of a different operator; in this case, it was that of his other son, Lan.

"Alright, I'm turning the system on." Dr. Hikari gave the signal to his assistants, and the team began to send power to the system. The room began to hum to life; inside the computer system, Megaman took a deep breath, feeling the effects of the connection.

"I can feel it, Dad!" he exclaimed. "It feels... weird. Like I'm light as a feather." He looked down and jumped into the air, but only rose up moderately high before peaking. He fell back to the ground, a bit disappointed.

"We've got it set up so you receive the strength bit by bit," his father noted. "In a couple minutes, you'll be at full power. I'm going to dispatch some Navis now, alright?"

Megaman nodded, and Dr. Hikari pressed another button. A short distance in front of Megaman, several orange Official Navis appeared; they quickly got into defensive stances, as Megaman formed his Mega Buster on his right arm. He pointed it toward the nearest Navi, aiming carefully, and fired; the blast struck the Navi square in the chest, exploding in a massive energy blast that knocked the others back.

"Dear God..." Yuichiro commented. "He's not even at full power yet." He spoke into a nearby microphone. "Keep going, Megaman! Give it all you've got!"

Megaman grinned and nodded, dashing forward with amazing speed. He ran up to the closest Navi and thrust his fist into the Navi's chest; his fist ran itself right through the Navi and came out the other side.

"Whoa!" Megaman quickly withdrew his hand, and the Navi dissolved into deletion. "That was... sorry..."

Yuichiro laughed. "You're doing great! Keep it up!" He pressed another button and more Navis appeared, encircling Megaman, who grinned and drew his buster again, a little drunk with power.

"I feel really strong!" Megaman exclaimed, firing off blast after blast; he continued on destroying Navis, not noticing the energy buildup crackling dangerously at the end of his buster. Yuichiro watched, highly pleased, as he kept an eye on Megaman's stats.

"His strength is extraordinary," he commented to himself. "I didn't even think his frame was equipped to handle this..." He continued to watch Megaman plow through opponent after opponent. "How are you holding up, Megaman?"

"I'm doing fine..." Megaman replied, his breathing slightly labored. The crackling energy was beginning to progress up his arm, and the other Navis were beginning to take notice, though their aggressor had not. As he continued blasting, he continued to feel more and more fatigued, until he eventually collapsed to his knees.

"Unh... what's happening..." He held his body, in pain, as the rest of his body started to crackle as well, overloading with power.

"Megaman!" Dr. Hikari took another look at the Navi's stats to find one of his fears confirmed; Megaman's frame was proving insufficient to contain the incredible strength surging through him. He turned his eyes back to the screen, where Megaman was now starting to cry out in excessive pain, as his entire body was racked with excess energy. His body was slowly lifted off the ground, the energy repelling him from the Net.

"Shut it down!" Yuichiro turned to his assistants. "We have to get this turned off!" He started typing furiously into his console, one eye watching Megaman's screen; a second later, he did a double take and looked again. Megaman's energy was spreading to the ground below, which began to splinter and fall away; his raw strength was tearing the Cyberworld apart.

"Dammit!" Yuichiro slammed his fist against the console and stood up, running over to Megaman's PET, where the operator simulation had been set up. He grabbed the apparatus forcefully and ripped out the connecting wires, bringing the experiment to a very abrupt end.

His assistants stopped what they were doing, as all their computers brought up error screens at once. Yuichiro sighed and walked back over to his main console, where Megaman had returned to normal. He was kneeling down, his body completely worn, and tears streamed down his cheeks.

"Dad... it was horrible..." he muttered. "Please, I don't want to do that ever again..."

His father sighed, never having dreamed it would go this bad. "No, you won't ever do that again, I promise." He walked over to the PET to start disassembling the experiment, his mind reeling with what had just happened. A Navi with this kind of power could actually exist... the possibilities were unimaginable. For now, though, the research would have to wait. He was never going to put his son through that again.

* * *

Lan was wide-eyed as his father finished the story. "Holy... that's Megaman's true power?"

Yuichiro nodded. "Megaman, truthfully, is the strongest Navi in existence. If he were at his true power, Forte would be nothing next to him, even as he is now. But you know how the story goes... I carefully removed that part of him, so that he wouldn't overload with power when you used him, and I hid it away in the SciLab servers. ... the file that contains the key bits of DNA that link you and him."

"Just in case, huh..." Lan looked down at Megaman, now more easily to see the physical resemblances between them, as his father nodded again, rather sleepy.

"I thought there may come a day where we could use it. But as I saw, Megaman's frame just can't handle that kind of power, so I had to do what I did."

"You mean it couldn't," Megaman interjected. "But that was eight years ago. Navi technology's come a long way since then... you could upgrade my frame, couldn't you?"

"It's still incredibly dangerous," Dr. Hikari replied, sighing. "But you may be right... we don't have many options right now. I guess I could give it a try, see if I can properly upgrade your frame. If I can't, then we're going to forget the whole thing and figure out another plan. Alright?"

Megaman and Lan both nodded, and Lan turned his PET over to his father, but Dr. Hikari handed it back, laughing. "What, you think I'm going to start working now? Do you have any idea how long it's been since I slept?"

Lan yawned, exceptionally tired himself, as Mayl smiled. "It's been nearly a day and a half, hasn't it?"

"Probably." Yuichiro stood up. "I'm too tired to think on it at this point. Let's all get home, both your mothers are going to be worried. Haruka's going to flay me alive for keeping you here as long as I have." The two youngsters stood up as well, and the three of them began walking to the bus stop, ready for something resembling normality after this long nightmare.

* * *

Back in the Net, Protoman was standing victoriously over his opponent, who was kneeling before him, holding his injured arm.

"Grr... looks like my time is up. Forte won't be too pleased..." Shademan bowed his head. "Go on, finish it. Relieve me of my humiliating servitude..."

"I had other ideas." The purple Navi looked up, eyebrow raised, as Protoman continued. "SciLab is currently conducting research on Forte's special Dark Chips. Instead of deleting you, I intend to take you there to aid them in their research."

"You jest!" Shademan retorted. "So you intend for me to change my servitude from Forte to the humans? I'd rather be deleted!"

"That can be arranged. Watch your mouth." Protoman put his sword to his opponent's neck. "Either way, you lose. My way, at least, you get to help us defeat Forte, so he stops infringing upon your territory or whatever it is he's doing."

"Grr..." Shademan weighed his options, as Protoman pressed his blade into the bat Navi's neck a little harder, bit by bit.

"Time's running out," Protoman prompted. "What's it going to be?"

"Fine!" his enemy barked. "I'll go along with you, you piece of scum. Just don't expect me to be happy about it."

Chaud's Navi smirked. "Of course not. Master Chaud doesn't believe in miracles, after all." Protoman put his hand on Shademan's shoulder, and the two disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

The three Hikari boys finally stumbled through their front door at 10 a.m., much to the relief of Haruka, who hugged Lan and Yuichiro tight, before beginning to chew out the latter, while Lan walked, zombie-like, to his room.

The back of his mind was still reeling from everything that had just happened. Forte, and his father, were able to bring Navis into the real world. He had just risked life and limb defending SciLab and protecting Mayl from danger. And his Navi, Megaman, was not only the most powerful Navi in the world, but the transferred soul of his twin brother that he never knew he had.

The front of his mind, however, was practically dead. After over 24 hours without sleep, which had been fueled almost entirely by adrenaline, his reserves had been completely drained, and the one thing he wanted more than anything in the world, more than the defeat of Forte or the safety of his friends, was to crawl into his bed and sleep for two days straight.

Entering his room, he put his PET onto his bedside table and climbed into bed, not bothering to change out of his clothes. Within one minute of lying down, he was finally asleep and at peace.


	36. Chapter 10: Lying In Wait

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 3: The Rise And Fall Of Forte_

* * *

Chapter 10: Lying In Wait

"Master Lan, it is time to get up. Wake up."

Lan groaned and rolled over in his bed, his eyes rebelling and refusing to open. He put a pillow over his head.

"Master Lan, you will be late for school if you hesitate for too long." After this second prompt, Lan sighed and sat up, rubbing his eye; mornings were not kind to him.

"The current temperature is 50 degrees Fahrenheit, 10 degrees Celsius, 283.2 degrees Kelvin, and thunderstorms are expected for tonight. You also have a new e-mail from your father."

"From Dad, huh?" Lan slowly got to his feet, heading to his dresser. "What's it say?"

"He reports that his upgrade of Megaman is complete."

"Awesome!" Lan grinned. His Navi had been with his father for the past couple of days, and he was ready to see Megaman again; the stock Navi that was serving as a substitute had started to wear on his nerves, with his complete lack of personality.

"He also reminds you that you are not allowed to skip school to come to SciLab," the Navi continued. "He expects to see you after school is over."

"Man..." He glanced over at his wall calendar, where today's date was circled excitedly in red marker, with a note - _Famous Exhibition 4 pm_. He sighed, a bit disappointed. "Well, I guess we'll have to go as fast as we can, then. Maybe if I just run in and out real quick, me and Mega can still get to the thing in time to try out his new skills."

"It's possible," the Navi commented automatically. Lan nodded, grabbing a change of clothes and heading toward the bathroom for a shower.

* * *

In downtown Den City, a rather ritzy hotel found its entrance mobbed by people. A throng of reporters waited eagerly for the appearance of a certain person, hoping to catch a photograph, maybe even a sound bite.

As the front doors opened, the mob lurched forward, as a man in an official looking suit appeared, clearly ready to speak. Flash bulbs went off and microphones shot forward, trying to get the scoop. The man cleared his throat.

"Attention everyone," he began. "I am sorry to disappoint you, but Mr. Famous is no longer in the building. He has..." The man's voice was drowned out by the resulting buzz, as the entire group demanded more information, disappointed and not wanting to leave without something useful.

About a mile away, a limousine was driving through downtown Den City, headed toward a television studio. Inside, two more official-looking men sat, one in the front seat, one in the back, along with a twenty-something man wearing sunglasses and a white trench coat.

"...and your interview with Ms. Midorikawa is scheduled to end at 11:30," one of the aides spoke, to the sunglassed man. "After lunch, there's a business meeting with the CEO of IPC, then your exhibition takes place at 4, Mr. Famous."

"Ugh, that can't go by soon enough." Mr. Famous looked out the window, watching the buildings go by. "There's going to be about three good Netbattlers there, along with a bunch of snot-nosed kids who think they can take me on. Where's the challenge?" He sighed. "I should have cancelled my business trip during the Red Sun Tournament."

"Perhaps there will be a better showing this year, sir. Some youngsters did very well in that tournament."

"Bah." Mr. Famous stretched his arms. "If there's a kid out there that can best me in a Netbattle, I'll eat my hat. I'll go out and buy some hats and then eat them. It's not going to happen."

"If you say so, sir." The aide continued dictating a schedule, as the limousine turned a corner.

* * *

Several hours later, in another portion of the Net, a group of orange Official Navis found themselves gathered in a circle. They muttered amongst themselves, wondering what to do with the mysterious bat-like Navi lying on a bench in the center.

"He's been rather badly damaged by Protoman," one of them commented, looking down upon the unconscious creature. "Is he worth studying in this state, is the question?"

"I'll tell you this, I'd rather be dealing with him now than when he's got his full strength," another answered. "We should get to work as soon as we can. I can't imagine we won't be able to find anything out just because he's been injured."

"Agreed," a third Navi chimed in. "Let's go fetch the instruments. This being could tell us a lot about the Dark Chips that Forte has been making..."

The group dispersed, walking off in various directions to collect their instruments. Once they had all left the room, the bat Navi opened one of his eyes, looking around. Seeing nobody present, he grinned and sat up, touching his hand to his injuries; they faded away instantly, having been naught but illusions.

"Excellent." Shademan grinned, baring long, pointed teeth. "Time to have a little fun..."

* * *

Shortly after school let out, Lan dashed into his father's office at SciLab, incredibly eager to see what modifications had been made to his Navi. Taking a look around, however, there was nobody to be found in the room.

"Dad?" he called out; his didn't answer, but another voice did.

"Lan! I'm over here!" Lan grinned and followed the sound of Megaman's voice to his PET, which was resting on Dr. Hikari's desk.

"Megaman!" Lan exclaimed. "Or Hub... erm... what do you..."

His Navi laughed. "'Megaman' will do just fine, thanks."

"Right..." Lan rubbed the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "So, Megaman... did Dad upgrade you? Is that all taken care of?"

"Almost," Megaman answered. "Basically he upgraded my systems so that I could handle the real upgrade... it's kind of weird how it works out."

"Huh?" Lan blinked, confused. "The real upgrade? What do you mean?"

As he asked, Megaman brought up a data file on Lan's PET, left there by his dad to explain the situation. "You remember when Dad mentioned a few days ago? That's the data file we need to get that will make the upgrade complete... it restores the bits of DNA that would link you and me together."

The data file disappeared. "If you jack me into Dad's main computer on the wall, it'll take you to some SciLab data archive. is hidden away there, he said... he gave me the password to access the archive, so we should be all ready to go."

Lan nodded, walking over to his father's personal computer, a giant machine that put his home computer to shame. "He told you all this to tell me? Where is he?"

"Where do you think? He's in a meeting, like always."

Lan sighed, pulling out his PET's jack-in cable. "Dad's always so busy... we'd probably see him once a week if we didn't drop by SciLab."

"It's not his fault, Lan," Megaman reminded him. "Everyone at SciLab is busy these days, with research, and Forte... it's just not a good time."

Lan nodded. "I just hope it doesn't last much longer..." He inserted the cable into a data port on his father's computer, sending his Navi into the Cyberworld. Entering the PC, Megaman quickly found the link to the archive and stepped in, being transported to the depths of SciLab's Net space.

"Okay, the door should be around here somewhere..." The Navi looked down into his hand, which held a key that would get him where he needed to go. After a bit of searching, Megaman finally found the door he was looking for, identifying it by several clues Dr. Hikari had offered.

"Alright, here it is." He put his hand on the energy door in front of him, transferring the key and unlocking it; the door slowly faded away, then disappeared entirely. Smiling, Megaman took a few steps in, when a blow to the back of the head knocked him down, pitching him forward.

"Ow! What?!" Megaman fell to his hands and knees and turned around quickly, rubbing his head. He found himself looking up at a tall, red-and-gold Navi with a runner's body; a golden V resided on his forehead, right above his eyes.

"Thank you for opening the door for me," the Navi spoke, smirking and putting his foot on Megaman's chest. "With that out of the way, I will easily be able to obtain for Master Forte, and the information it holds within."

Megaman grabbed the Navi's foot. "You're not going anywhere! You'll have to get by me if you want that file!"

The Navi laughed and kicked his opponent in the face, knocking him down. "You think you'll be able to stop me? I've never met a Navi that's been able to keep up with Quickman!" He jumped off of Megaman's torso and dashed down the recently opened corridor at a blinding speed, checking every branching path in his search for the item.

Behind him, Megaman slowly stood up, rubbing his head. "For Pete's sake... I wasn't expecting this..."

"Megaman, we need to hurry!" Lan urged from Yuichiro's office. "We need to beat him to the file!"

"There's no way we can outrun him, though..." Megaman stepped forward, requesting an Invisible chip, which he quickly received. "But we can beat him there... he doesn't know where it is, so he's got alot of searching to do. Let's see who gets to first!" He took off down the hallway, moving as quietly as he could.

* * *

Over at DenDome, the stadium was abuzz. Children from all over the city had crammed themselves into the stadium, some accompanied by parents, most accompanied by other children. Many were talking animatedly with their friends, while others were checking and re-checking their Navis and their folders, trying to be as ready for battle as possible.

"Dex, stop checking your folder over and over." Halfway up the audience, Yai was mildly berating Dex, who was compulsively analyzing every single chip he had. "It's not like you're going to beat Mr. Famous, you know."

"How would you know?" Dex shot back, as Mayl giggled on Yai's other side; the two of them bickered constantly. "Me and Gutsman have been training nonstop! I bet I've worked harder than anyone else here!"

"So? Mr. Famous works hard too! And he's been doing it a lot longer than you, that's for sure." Yai smirked and looked down at her chip folder. "I'm going to win, because I've got chips that I bet not even HE can afford. Let's see him try and work his way around a..." She picked out a random chip and squinted at it, trying to discern its function. "...whatever this is."

Mayl grinned, looking down at her PET, where Roll was stretching. "I don't really expect to win... I mean, he's the most famous Netbattler in Electopia. He's got a TV show and his own Battlechips... doesn't he have a breakfast cereal too?"

"Don't put yourself down, Mayl," Yai advised, putting the Battlechip back into her folder. "You almost won that Den City Tournament this summer, remember?"

"Yea, almost..." Mayl smiled and put her PET aside. "Speaking of which, where is Lan? I thought he'd be here by now. I know he'd hate to miss this..."

"There he is!" a voice cried out, and the stadium erupted in cheers. In the very center of the stadium-like room, a man wearing sunglasses and a white trench coat was walking in, waving at his numerous idolizers in the crowd. Mr. Famous was used to this kind of treatment, nearly everywhere he went. After a minute, he raised his hands to call for silence.

"I tell you what, it's good to be back in Electopia again..." he began nonchalantly, "looking at all of these aspiring young Netbattlers. Which one of you is going to be the next celebrity Netbattler superstar, I wonder?"

He grinned as the children cheered again, loving to receive attention, even if it was from these brats. "Well, I say we get down to business. You all remember my Navi, Dynamoman... well, he's gone into retirement. But I've got a newer and better model this time around, and you lucky kids are the first people to see. Take a look!"

He pressed a button on the three-dimensional screen in front of him, displaying his new Navi for all to see. It was humanoid, colored mostly brown, standing tall and thin. It had what appeared to be a yellow, metal casing where long blonde hair would be, and in its chest was what appeared to be a metal door.

"This is my new Navi, Gateman!" Famous announced. "Stronger and faster than Dynamoman, and the gate in his chest holds a number of interesting surprises... but you'll be seeing those soon enough, I think. Who's ready to try and beat my Gateman?"

The crowd cheered a third time, limitless in its candor, as Mr. Famous transported Gateman to the DenDome Netbattle arena, along with the first competitor. Mayl, Dex and Yai watched as the battles began.

"Man, this guy doesn't look so tough!" Dex proclaimed. "Look at him! I bet Gutsman could flatten him, no problem!"

"Well, Megaman didn't look so tough either," Mayl reminded him, smirking; Dex snorted.

"Bah! You won't be smirking once I beat Gateman's head in!" The three of them continued to bicker and laugh, as each child waited eagerly for their turn to battle.

* * *

"I'm approaching as fast as I can," a red Navi spoke through his PET. "Almost there. Other Officials should be arriving soon as well." Protoman quickly arrived at his destination, a cyber building deep inside SciLab. He could tell, simply from looking at the outside, that something powerful and dangerous was at work.

"I'm heading in." He raced inside and immediately saw signs of destruction all around him; terminals had been destroyed, machines had been knocked over, and claw marks were everywhere he could see. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was responsible here.

Protoman walked through the area cautiously, looking all around, not quite sure where his opponent could hide. "Come out, come out, wherever you are..." he muttered under his breath. Rounding a corner, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, and quickly brought his blade up, as Shademan's claws clashed with it.

"You!" Protoman exclaimed, trying to force his opponent back. "How on Earth did you do this? I wounded you far too much!" He kicked at the bat Navi opposite him, and Shademan jumped back, laughing.

"Wounded, you say? Did it look something like this?" He put his hand on his body, and immediately a gaping wound appeared. Protoman gritted his teeth as the wound vanished just as quickly.

"So it was all a ruse to get in here..."

Shademan grinned evilly. "You were doing a bit too much research into the darkness that I serve... both Forte and I decided it was to be taken out."

"Hmph." Protoman brandished his sword, pointing it at Shademan. "Well, this time, your injuries will be for real."

"I wish you the best of luck!" The purple Navi dashed forward and swiped with his clothes, attacks that his opponent dodged. "There is only one thing that can harm me... the only weapon that you dare not use!"

"Dark Chips..." Protoman's eyes narrowed behind his shades, as the dark Navi cackled again.

"What's it going to be? Corrupt yourself and save the world from me, or save yourself and have me wreak havoc?" Shademan continued to laugh and slash away, as Protoman dodged his blows, trying to think of a way out of this.

* * *

Quickman darted about the SciLab archives, looking for the file that he was sent to destroy. He grinned at the thought of returning to Forte with his mission a success; he imagined rewards, a promotion, a boatload of Zennys...

He skidded past one hallway, doing a double take and taking another look. He grinned wide; at the end of this rather long hallway, that had to be it, the file he was seeking. Megaman was nowhere to be found; victory was sure to be his. He took off down the hallway, but immediately came to a stop; a severe pain in his leg sent him tumbling to the ground.

"Agh! What the?!" He grabbed his leg and cursed in pain, as nearby, Megaman slowly came into focus as an Invisible Chip wore off; he was equipped with Aqua Custom style and brandishing a Long Sword.

"No brains but plenty of ego." He smirked and started running off down the hallway, as Quickman tried to get to his feet. "You guys make this too easy..." He continued running as fast as he could, when a somewhat slower streak of red rushed by.

"What?!" Megaman watched, wide-eyed, as Quickman dashed ahead of him, limping but still a good deal faster than Megaman. He gritted his teeth and vanished, appearing several yards ahead from an Area Steal, then did the same thing again, over and over, trying to catch up.

"Geez, even with a bad leg this guy's fast..." Lan commented, rubbing his head. "Megaman, be careful, you're almost out of Area Steals!"

"I know." Megaman continued to disappear and reappear, his destination growing nearer, but not fast enough.

"Darn it, he's still too fast!" Lan watched as Quickman inched closer to the prize; Megaman was catching up, but not quick enough. "You're not going to get there before him..."

"I don't need to get there before him," Megaman responded, getting as close to Quickman as he could. "I just need to get... close... enough..."

As he felt his final Area Steal activate, Megaman thrust his palm outward toward Quickman, and watched as a Rock Cube wall apeared right before his red opponent.

"Gah!" Quickman tried to brake as best he could, but to no avail; he crashed heavily into the wall and flew across the small room, right past . As he slammed into the wall, he rubbed his head and looked up toward Megaman, as the Navi touched and began to glow a bright white. The light quickly blinded the red Navi, forcing him to look away; the sight that greeted him when he looked back was the last one he ever saw.

"Yea!" Lan cheered as Megaman, glowing white, destroyed Quickman in an instant, effortlessly. "You really showed... ugh..." Lan lost his grip on his PET and fell to his knees, as all of his energy rushed out of him.

"Lan!" Megaman cried out. "What's going on?" Lan couldn't respond; his vision swam and his head pounded, and he vomited on the floor before rolling to the side and passing out.

* * *

In another part of SciLab, Protoman was cursing and holding a wound of his own, as Shademan laughed maniacally.

"It seems you're too noble to subject yourself to the sort of power I possess," he taunted, walking forward toward the Official. "This isn't even entertaining anymore... I might as well just finish you off."

He conjured up a massive, powerful Dark Sword and raised it above his head. "Perhaps you could have torn me from that blasted Forte, had you been strong enough... but I guess now we'll never know!" As he swung the sword downward, Protoman raised his hands to meet it, glaring.

"Reflect!" he called out, as the sword connected. Shademan's eyes widened as he saw his Dark Sword curve back to meet him, cutting a deep wound in his torso. Screaming, he fell backward onto the ground, as Protoman stood up over him.

"How did you live this long, if you underestimate your opponents like this?" he taunted, as his opponent stuggled to sit up.

"You bastard..." Shademan lay back down, propping himself up with an elbow. "Don't think this is over..."

Protoman pointed his sword back down, at the Navi's neck. "What exactly do you think will save you from going right back where you were?"

Shademan grinned evilly. "Well, in a few minutes, you're going to have bigger fish than me to fry..." He cackled, coughing a bit. "Electopia's hero, their symbol of strength, the role model for the children... who is protecting him right now? His Navi and him..."

"What?!" Chaud's Navi reached down and grabbed Shademan by his neck. "What are you talking about?!"

"Why don't you go down to DenDome and see for yourself?"

"You... this isn't over, trust me!" Protoman quickly vanished upward, jacking out, leaving Shademan to tend to his injuries in a desolated region of SciLab.

* * *

"And another one falls!" An announcer's voice boomed over the loudspeaker at DenDome, as hundreds of children cheered in support of Mr. Famous, or perhaps his opponent for the moment.

"It's almost our turn!" Mayl exclaimed excitedly. "Are you guys ready?" Yai and Dex both nodded, as they counted off one, two, three other children who were in line to battle.

"Close, but not quite!" Mr. Famous declared, as another Navi vanished from the DenDome Cyber arena. "We've seen some good matches so far, but nobody's been able to best me yet! Does anyone have what it takes?"

"I think I might," a voice boomed over the loudspeakers. The crowd let out a surprised yelp, looking around for the source of the voice, as Gateman turned his attention to another part of the Cyber arena. A Navi was slowly approaching from the far end; one by one, the crowd turned to watch this mysterious Navi float over, his body almost entirely concealed by a tattered brown cloak.

"What?!" Dex exclaimed, as Mayl gasped. "What is he doing here?!"

"Is he going to fight?" Yai wondered.

"What are you doing here?" Gateman exclaimed, almost in unison with Dex, as the Navi landed a few yards in front, his eyes narrowing.

"I wish to participate in your challenge," Forte replied calmly. "I want to see if you truly are as strong as you claim to be... I have a bit of an ego to satisfy, shall we say."

Mr. Famous grinned. "A mysterious challenger appears..." He turned toward the crowd. "But he's no match for me, is he, kids?"

"No!" the crowd screamed as one, with the exception of three worried children, the only three who knew who this cloaked Navi truly was. Mr. Famous turned back to the screen, riding a wave of confidence, as Gateman got into a defensive position.

"Alright, stranger," he spoke calmly. "Let's see what you got."

Forte smirked. "Very well. Let's begin."

"No," another voice spoke. "This ends now." Forte looked up quickly at the source of the sound, as a familiar, female Navi descended and landed next to Gateman. She wore Arabian-style attire, the white clashing against her dark skin; her long, blonde hair was partially hidden by a golden helmet, as gold donned her arms as well.

"Serenade..." Forte snorted. "So you've finally decided to act. I didn't think you'd approve of my actions."

"This has gone on far enough," Serenade responded. "You've grown far too powerful... I cannot allow you to continue to exist." Gateman and Mr. Famous watched, dumbfounded, as this repartee continued.

"And how do you plan to stop me? You're not nearly as strong as I am, not anymore."

"Don't underestimate me," the girl Navi replied. "And even so, if Gateman and I battle together..." She looked toward Gateman, as if asking for approval. "...you won't be a match for the two of us."

Forte glared. "Hmph. You really think you can intimidate me, don't you? Poor, deluded girl..."

He clenched his fists, falling into an offensive stance. "You think I'm scared? I'll take on the both of you!"

"What?!" Serenade exclaimed, along with several other voices from the audience. "Are you out of your mind?!"

Forte grinned maliciously. "Why don't you try me and find out?"

"You monster..." Serenade extended her palm at her opponent. "Fine then! Prepare yourself!"

She fired an energy blast at Forte, who easily dodged and rushed the two Navis, beginning an intense, three-Navi battle.


	37. Chapter 11: Forte's Simul

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 3: The Rise And Fall Of Forte_

* * *

Chapter 11: Forte's Simul

Several minutes on, Forte nimbly dodged a flying blow from Gateman, grabbing him by the ankle and using his body to knock away an advancing Serenade; both Navis fell to the ground, as Forte laughed derisively.

"You're going to have to do much better than that, I'm afraid," he taunted, as his two opponents got to their feet. Serenade cracked her knuckles, looking up at her former rival.

"This is crazy... he's way stronger and faster than he ever was before," Serenade commented to herself. "What the hell has he been up to?"

"I've never seen a Navi with powers like this," Gateman added. "If anyone's going to defeat him, though, it would be the two of us, I suspect."

"Well, I wouldn't mind some help," Serenade replied, dashing forward. Gateman stayed behind, looking upward at Forte and opening up the metallic gate in his chest with his hands. As he focused intensely, two laser guns appeared out of the hole, firing at either side of his enemy.

"Hm?" Forte held still as the large laser walls blasted past him, trapping him temporarily. Hearing a sound behind him, he whirled around to see Serenade rushing at him, her hands above her head in preparation for a powerful blast. Forte smirked and pointed his hand at his opponent; an energy ball quickly appeared and shot directly at Serenade, who dodn't bother to dodge. Much to her surprise, as the blast connected, a powerful electric shock coursed through her, knocking her painfully back down to the ground.

"Surprised?" Forte taunted, as she slowly sat up, rubbing her head. "That shield of yours isn't impervious, fool. There are ways of getting around it... disabling it, even, I suspect... gah!"

He stumbled forward in the air as a series of tiny explosions hit his back; he turned around quickly to see Gateman's gate closing.

"Hmph... seems I'm not impervious, either. I'm not used to fighting two powerful opponents... this should be interesting." Forte raised his fist and dashed toward Gateman, who adopted a defensive stance.

* * *

"Unh..." Lan blinked and slowly opened his eyes, looking around and wondering where he was. From the looks of things, he was back in his father's office, lying on the now-familiar bench. He winced as his head pounded, and he groaned in pain, noticing his mouth tasted like vomit.

_Ugh... this must be what a hangover feels like..._ he thought to himself, as he heard two sets of footsteps approaching from outside; a moment later, his parents appeared in the doorway.

"Oh good, he's awake." Lan saw his mother rush over to him, sitting by his side. "How are you feeling, Lan, sweetie?"

His father chuckled. "Really? I don't think he's doing that great, hun."

"Hush," Haruka shot back, as Lan smiled a bit, amused.

"I'm... I'll be fine." He sat up, rubbing his temple. "Head hurts... but it's getting better pretty fast, I think."

"I'm glad..." Haruka sat back and sighed. "Your father's told me everything that's happened... what he told you, what he was trying to do with you and Hub..."

"I see..." Lan looked up at her. "Sorry that we worried you, Mom..."

"No, that's my fault," his father interjected, sighing. "I should have known what would happen if you tried to use HubStyle. It's almost the same thing that happened to me back in college. It's just too dangerous..."

"What? This same thing happened to you, and you still let it happen to them?" Lan's mother quickly stood up and turned around, angrily facing her husband. "Honey, what's wrong with you?! They're twelve years old! They have no business trying to save the world all the time!"

"Mom..." Lan started, not wanting to hear this argument, but his father responded anyhow.

"Haruka, you know what these two are capable of. I wish that it could be someone else, but Lan and Hub are the only ones who can stop Forte now. It's just... it's what needs to be done. It's beyond us now, it's beyond what I want as a father."

Lan's mother sighed and sat down. "I know... I know." She rubbed Lan's hair lightly and smiled sadly. "Lan... Hub... I always knew that you two would grow up to be special. My two little champions... I just don't want anything to happen to either of you. I've already lost little Hub once..."

Lan looked down at Megaman, who looked back up with a steely resolve, one rather uncharacteristic of the situation. Megaman acted somewhat oddly every time his existence as Hub was brought up, and Lan wasn't quite sure why.

"Well, in any case, you two won't be using HubStyle anytime soon," Yuichiro added. "You were in that form for only a fraction of a second, and look what happened. That's of no use to us."

"So much for that..." Lan clenched his fist briefly, feeling a chance to get revenge on Forte slipping away, before looking up. "So... what? Is that it? Are we back to square one or something?"

"Thankfully, no." Yuichiro pushed his glasses up, making a mental note to have his frames readjusted. "I ran into somebody that could give us a bit of assistance. It's not really a substitute for HubStyle, but it should help..."

* * *

Back at DenDome, the stadium was abuzz with curious rumblings. Who was this mysterious cloaked Navi, and the girl Navi he was fighting against? Why was Gateman having so much trouble, when he's the greatest Navi in Electopia?

"What the heck is going on?" Yai demanded, as she looked down at the unfolding battle. "Who is this guy?" She looked around at Mayl and Dex, who were watching the battle intently, worried looks on their faces. "Um... guys?" After receiving no response, she prodded Mayl sharply in the side, causing her to yelp.

"Ow!" Mayl rubbed her side painfully. "Geez... that's Forte, remember? Didn't I tell you about what was going on?"

"Forte?" Yai looked back down at the field, trying to remember where exactly Mayl had mentioned him. "He's the guy who... wait... no, isn't he the guy who deleted Megaman?"

"That's him." Mayl nodded affirmatively. "He's the Navi who's been trying to take over the world, or whatever he's trying to do. I don't know what he's doing here, though..."

"He's fighting Gateman, duh!" Dex interjected. "He wants to delete the strongest Navi in the country!"

"But why, though?" Mayl wondered. "I don't know, maybe I'm reading too much into this. It's not like I know that much about him... I don't know if anyone does." Yai shrugged in response, as they continued watching the battle along with the rest of the crowd.

Inside the cyber arena, the battle continued furiously, as Serenade and Gateman worked together to try and do any sort of reasonable damage to Forte.

"Keep going!" Gateman called out; he was continually firing his chest laser at Forte, after which Serenade would attack him as he dodged. "I think we're wearing him down!" He was incorrect; Forte was merely growing impatient.

"Hmph... disappointing," he muttered to himself, easily dodging and countering a blow from Serenade. He had expected much more out of the girl who had been his rival for so long. Had he really outstripped her by that much? Well, no matter; if she no longer posed a challenge, then she no longer served a purpose.

"Enough!" After dodging yet another blow, he jumped high into the air and looked directly down at Gateman, his other opponent, as he readied another laser blast. Forte put his hands together and concentrated; moments later, a grotesque sight met the crowd's eyes, as his hands morphed into the large, open-mouthed head of some sort of dog-like beast.

"Let's see how your laser stands up against my Gospel Cannon!" he called out, his eyes gleaming. Gateman was rather taken aback by the challenge, but had no choice but to fire, as his opponent quickly charged and fired his beam back. The two energy blasts met in midair and instantly exploded in a blinding flash of light, one that caused everybody to avert their eyes.

"Agh!" Serenade quickly covered her eyes with her arm, blinded momentarily. As the light receded somewhat, she uncovered her eyes again, only to find herself face-to-face with her opponent; she barely had time to process this before Forte's sword stabbed directly through her stomach.

* * *

Lan's hands wandered his pockets in search of a stick of gum, as he followed his father through the SciLab halls. He eventually found one and popped it into his mouth, as they turned a corner and entered one of the many, indistinguishable research rooms in the NetNavi division.

"So this is the lad, is he?" a male voice spoke. "The one hoping to defeat Bass?" Lan looked up to see an older man, in his mid-40's, with graying blonde hair and a beard, wearing a green suit and glasses.

"Hoping to, at least," Yuichiro answered, as Lan studied this other man. "We're not sure how we're going to pull it off exactly. I told you about how well HubStyle worked."

"Yes, I heard... graduate school all over again, eh, Yuichiro?" The man smirked at Dr. Hikari, before turning to his son. "Could I see your PET, then?"

"Er.. yea, hold on..." Lan reached for his hip and handed his PET over to the bearded scientist, who quickly took a look at it before heading over to a computer terminal. Lan inched his way over to his father as the man started to get to work doing something or other.

"Dad, who's that?" Lan muttered, leaning in.

"That's my old boss, Dr. Mikhail Cossack," Yuichiro replied, keeping his voice low as well. "He was the first to research Bass; ended up completely changing the Net. The man's a genius."

"What's he doing with Megaman?"

"I'm giving him a particular upgrade," Cossack replied, able to hear the both of them perfectly. "Very similar to one that I gave to Bass, fifteen years ago."

"Get Ability, right?" Dr. Hikari asked; Dr. Cossack nodded in response.

"I see..." Lan looked down toward his hip instinctively, before remembering that Cossack had his PET. "So, Megaman will be able to use the abilities of other Navis?"

"Yes, he will. Exactly twice." Lan could see the bearded scientist initiate a file transfer of some sort. "The program I wrote all those years ago was designed specifically to interface with Bass's programming. If I wanted to make an equally powerful program for Megaman, I'd have to study him for quite a long time."

The computer made a satisfied _ding_ sound, and Cossack removed the PET from its holder. "Using this, Megaman can acquire exactly two new abilities, and he can use each one once." He handed the PET back to its owner. "Use them carefully."

"Thanks," Lan replied, looking back down at Megaman.

"No need to thank me," Cossack replied, folding his arms. "I'm just trying to atone for old mistakes... perhaps if I had chosen a different course of action, our world wouldn't be threatened right now." He sighed and sat down in a nearby chair. "Maybe this, maybe that... nothing I can do now except try to look past my previous errors."

Lan sensed that there was a larger story there, but decided not to pursue it now; he had places that he wanted to get to, if he could. "So... what do we do now?"

"I'm not quite sure," his father responded, folding his arms. "Even with that, Megaman isn't strong enough to challenge Forte directly. Perhaps if we took him on as a group, with a lot of powerful Navis... egh, who knows." He rubbed his forehead. "What a headache."

He turned to his son. "In any case, I think we're done here. You should go home and get some rest, your mother will be there shortly."

Lan nodded. "Alright. Thanks, Dad, see ya." He nodded toward Dr. Cossack briefly as well, then headed out of the room and started navigating toward the exit of the building.

"Gonna get some rest, you think?" Megaman inquired from his PET.

Lan sighed and nodded. "I want to go and catch the rest of Mr. Famous's thing, but ugh, I feel like crap." He rubbed his still-sore head. "Plus, it's been something like an hour, maybe hour and a half. I've probably missed my chance anyway..."

"I'm sorry, Lan," Megaman offered, as his operator headed toward the nearby bus stop. "There will be other big battles, you know."

"Yea, I know." He sat at the bench and waited for the bus to arrive. "I just wish I could battle for fun every once in a while."

* * *

Gateman stared in shock as Forte stood in front of his rival Serenade, his sword completely piercing her torso. He removed the blade smoothly and quickly, and the female Navi fell to the ground, her eyes wide with shock.

"It's been fun," Forte muttered, looking down at her. "But the time for games is over. I will not allow anyone to stand in my way any longer."

The Cyberarena stood still and silent, until the silence was shattered by a battle cry from behind Forte. A tall Navi, sporting many flamboyant customizations, ran up from behind and leaped into the air, bringing his foot down toward Forte's head. The cloaked Navi quickly reached out and grabbed the Navi by the ankles without even looking.

The Navi yelped and struggled as Forte brought it in front of him, looking the over-customized Navi over. He snorted.

"A word of advice, whoever you are," he offered. "Battle cries and sneak attacks don't mix well." He tossed the Navi into the air and flung a powerful energy blast at it, deleting the Navi instantly. Hearing something behind him, Forte turned around to find several more weak-looking Navis advancing toward him. As they advanced, their numbers grew, as more and more Navis started jacking into the Cyberarena.

He couldn't help but laugh, a smirk appearing on his face. "Oh, this is adorable," he commented, starting to rise into the air. "All you pathetic children think you can team up and defeat the big mean Navi, is that it?"

He raised his hand into the air, and a large, purple energy wheel started to form, as he dodged the occasional shot of blaster fire. "I hate to crush your little spirits, but life is not a heartwarming movie about the power of courage and friendship. Allow me to show you why!" He flung the energy wheel down at the forming crowd of Navis, which cut through a dozen of them like a hot knife through butter.

Some of the Navis began to disperse in fear, while others just increased their attacks. Forte dove down into the crowd, grabbing one Navi and flinging it deeper into the crowd, deleting a couple more Navis. As he continued his onslaught on the mob of opponents, he failed to notice a short pink blur moving through the Navis and toward Serenade.

Roll looked around quickly, to make sure that Forte was distracted, and that Gutsman and Glyde were alright, then knelt down next to Serenade and placed her hands on the hole that Forte had made. Closing her eyes and focusing, the fallen body began to glow a light pink, as the hole quickly repaired itself.

Serenade's eyes fluttered briefly, then shot open as she sat up and looked around. "What..." She looked down at her abdomen where the wound had been, only to find it gone.

"Don't strain yourself," Roll warned. "I was able to fix your wound, but you're still really low on energy."

"The hell with that..." The helmeted started struggling to her feet. "Forte's got to go..." She stood up and started moving toward the cloaked Navi, but Roll blocked her path, putting her hands on her shoulders.

"Come on, think!" she retorted. "You couldn't defeat him when he was at full power, what makes you think you can now?"

"Doesn't matter." Serenade tried to get past, eager to fight again, but with her strength sapped, she wasn't quite as strong as the Navi holding her back. "Who else is going to be able to take him down?"

"We'll be-" Roll began, before a loud clang made them both turn around. They watched as Forte clashed swords from above with a red Navi that had dropped in; a second later, both Forte and Protoman jumped back, dashing toward each other to cross swords again. As Forte swung, Protoman ducked to deliver a Minibomb blow to his opponent's body, The attack was successful, and Forte growled and flung away Protoman, who flew a good deal across the Cyberarena. As Forte watched, a number of small attacks hit him in the back.

"We'll be fine!" Roll continued. "This battle isn't that important. You need to get strong again in case you need to battle him later!"

"Grr..." Serenade clenched her fist, hating to leave, before she finally teleported off. Sighing in relief, Roll began to dash around again, looking for Gutsman and Glyde, or any other Navi she could help out.

* * *

On the bus home, Lan was resting his aching forehead against the cool window, the temperature numbing the soreness a bit. Megaman was resting in his PET, a bit bored. Both of them were getting a bit annoyed with the two women in the seat ahead of them, who were talking rather loudly amongst themselves.

"...and my son was so excited to get out of school today. He told me that I wasn't allowed to be even one second late picking him up!" one of the women exclaimed.

"Goodness," the other responded. "What on earth was he so excited for?"

"He's been waiting weeks for this whole 'simul' thing that's happening at DenDome. Apparently, that really famous guy, Mr. Famous, he's letting kids battle him, and little Billy really wanted to meet his idol." Lan groaned quietly and tried to tune them out; the simul was the last thing he wanted to think about right now.

"Oh, that reminds me!" the second woman piped up. "My husband told me that the strangest thing was going on down there, only a few minutes ago." Lan raised one eyebrow, unable to stay completely uninterested.

"Well, what did he say?"

"Apparently, about an hour into that event, these two mysterious Navis showed up and they all started fighting. One of them, the black-colored one, was really super strong, since it was able to take on the other two, even Mr. Famous's-"

"What?!" Lan sat straight up in his seat, as the two women in front of him jumped in surprise at the loud sound. They both turned around to look at this rude little boy, who sat forward and looked at the first women. "This Navi, did he have big fins on his head and wear a cloak?"

"Er, well..." She stumbled about her words, a little confused about what had got this boy so riled up. "I don't know about any fans, but my husband mentioned a cloak..."

"Argh!" Lan slammed his fist against the window in frustration, causing the women to jump again. "God damnit!" He reached up and yanked on the cord signaling for a stop, then ran to the nearest set of doors, dashing out when they opened, leaving a rather confused bus of patrons behind.

"Lan, are you going off to fight him?" Megaman inquired a bit urgently, as Lan pulled out his skates and headed toward a subway entrance a couple blocks away.

"Now's as good a time as any, Megaman," Lan responded, zooming along the sidewalk. "How many Netbattlers are going to be there? Good ones, too? Mayl, Yai, Dex, Chaud, maybe? Ganging up on him is probably the only way we're going to be able to defeat him now... the only safe way, at least. We have to try!"

"Well, alright," Megaman responded, stretching his arms and starting to focus his mind. "This has gone on too long as it is. I'll be ready for him." Lan nodded and continued to race along, feeling a powerful urge to end this once and for all.

* * *

Protoman rushed forward, accompanied by Gutsman and two other Navis, as Forte tended to some more attackers to his right.

"Alright, now don't attack until I-" Protoman began, before the two additional Navis dashed forward, overeager, and started firing their arms. Forte quickly turned and dispatched them with a single swipe of his sword; Protoman cursed and hit the brakes, putting up his shield as his opponent dashed forward.

Forte's fist shattered Protoman's shield, and though it softened the blow, the force of Forte's strike still knocked the official Navi quite a ways away, his chest damaged. Forte hovered above the attacking crowd for a moment, watching him land.

"Hrm." He watched as Protoman struggled to get up. "I could have sworn I've dealt that Navi lethal damage more than once now. He's starting to become a real pain." He turned around to delete more fodder, but a light pink blur appeared in the corner of his eye, one he hadn't noticed before. Diving through the crowd with his sword out, deleting more Navis, he re-emerged above the fray to see a similarly-colored pink Navi kneeling next to the official, healing his wounds.

"You okay?" Roll asked Protoman, as he sat up; they both turned around to look at Forte, and gasped when they saw him racing toward the two of them. Roll quickly tried to run off, but the dark Navi immediately had his hand clutched around her throat and lifted her off the ground.

"So, you're the one who's been making these Navis reappear once I've taken care of them," Forte grumbled, rising up into the air with Mayl's Navi in his clutches. "If there's one thing I don't need, it's people making my life more difficult." He raised his hand, placing it on her torso, as Roll struggled to get free.

Mayl raced through her folder, looking for any additional recovery chips, attack chips, or anything that could get Roll out of this situation, knowing that if she were deleted, there was no bringing her back. Yai and Dex did the same, but it was to no avail; one second later, Forte fired his energy beam and blew a massive hole through Roll's chest.

Gutsman, Glyde and Protoman watched in horror as Roll's frame went limp in Forte's hand. He smirked and tossed her to the ground, then followed her down with his fist raised, ready to finish the job. As Roll hit the ground, and right before Forte's fist connected, he was powerfully knocked away by a dark blue elbow hitting him square in the chest.

"Megaman!" the three children gasped, as Lan's Navi quickly knelt down next to Roll. They looked around the arena for any sign of Lan, finding him holding his knees and catching his breath near the central terminal, where Mr. Famous was still residing and operating Gateman.

"Roll? Roll!" Megaman shook his companion, triyng to wake her, but her frame remained lifeless. Cursing under his breath, he closed his eyes and focused for a minute; the room watched for a second as he glowed pink, then Roll followed suit, her wounds healing. Her eyes opened quickly, and she looked up at her savior.

"Mega...?" she mumbled; Megaman nodded, setting her down, as she got to her feet.

"Sorry I'm late, it's been a busy day," he replied, as she got to her feet. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, looking down and feeling her chest where a hole had been just a moment ago. "I feel fine... but how did you do that?"

"I had to borrow your healing power for a moment," Megaman explained. "Not something I can do again... but I still have one more of those up my sleeve." He turned himself toward the descending Forte. "I'm going to need it."

His enemy snorted, his eyes narrowing at the blue Navi in front of him. "Hm. You're back a little sooner than I expected, Megaman." He smirked. "How was your trip to the other side?"

Megaman cracked his knuckles. "Why don't I show you? I've learned a few new tricks while I was out."

"I noticed." Forte touched ground, as a lone Navi rushed at him from behind, ready to swing his sword; it disintegrated as it made contact with a suddenly-forming Dark Aura, along with the rest of the Navi as he ran headlong into it. "I can tell you've grown a bit stronger since we last fought... but you're still no match for me. If you're smart, you'll leave now and enjoy what remains of your life."

"Not happening," Megaman retorted, stepping forward. "Maybe not by myself, but how many of us do you think you can take on?" He looked around at the dozens of Navis remaining, as Gateman, Roll, Protoman, Gutsman and Glyde went to stand with him. "I don't think the odds are in your favor here."

Forte smirked. "So... this is going to be Electopia's last stand, is it? Their best fighters all come here to try and defeat me once and for all?" He snorted. "There is no obstacle I cannot overcome, Megaman. You don't have the slightest idea who you're dealing with. Nevertheless..." He leapt into the air and raised his hands above his head. "I accept your challenge!" A massive, crackling ball of electricity formed above his head, which he flung down at the Cyberarena.

"Jump!" Megaman instructed, leaping into the air, and his allies quickly followed suit. As the electricity hit the ground, the entire floor of the arena lit up with energy, and the cries of dozens of electrocuted Navis filled the air. The children of DenDome all cried out in surprise and fear as their Navis were deleted, one by one. By the time the attack had subsided, only seven Navis remained: Forte, Megaman, and his friends.

Megaman glared at Forte, trying to put up a tough front, though a bit nervous about the power his opponent had just demonstrated, as Forte touched ground again. "Now this is the sort of battle I was looking for. Myself and six competent opponents." He got into a battle stance, grinning. "I look forward to seeing how you've grown while you were away."

While half the dome lamented the loss of their Navis, the other half watched on in amazement at the seven remaining battlers. After a minute, Protoman finally dashed forward, his sword by his side; the others joined him quickly, and the battle began.


	38. Chapter 12: Desperate Measures

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 3: The Rise And Fall Of Forte_

* * *

Chapter 12: Desperate Measures

Megaman's sword clashed with Forte's, who quickly wheeled around to deflect an additional blow from Protoman. The cloaked Navi moved with incredible speed, fighting off both Navis, as the others in the group prepared an attack of their own. Gateman had his chest cavity open, a beam attack charging as he tried to get Forte properly in his sights.

"They're moving too fast," he muttered to himself, as his cloaked opponent whirled and strafed with incredible agility, almost too fast to see. "If I don't get this right, those other two Navis are going to be caught in the crossfire."

"That's their problem," Mr. Famous replied, watching the action through his PET screen. "If they insist on stepping into our fight, that's the price they're going to pay. We won't lose this battle." His confidence remained unshaken, even after seeing Serenade soundly defeated just moments ago.

"Understood." Gateman watched on as the three Navis battled, Megaman and Protoman desperately trying to land a blow on their opponent. After a minute, they both raised their swords on either side of him and quickly brought them down in opposite directions. Forte quickly raised his sword to block Megaman's blow, then turned his head to see Protoman's blade bearing down on him.

Chaud's eyes narrowed, anticipating that his Navi might manage a damaging blow on his opponent. As the blade came nearer, Forte reached out his hand and grasped the sharp blade in his fist, grunting in pain as the sword cut lightly into his hand. He smirked despite the pain, as he looked at Protoman's bewildered expression.

"You two are well coordinated," he remarked, as he lifted Protoman into the air by his sword. "If you're lucky, that might end up saving you." He turned his body and hurled Protoman mightily through the air, directly toward Gateman. He had no time to react as Protoman's body crashed into his, and his Gate Cannon fired as he was knocked backward, shooting harmlessly upward.

Forte quickly turned his attention back to Megaman, who jumped backward to create some distance. He immediately equipped a Shotgun and fired it in Forte's direction, but it was quickly sidestepped, and soon they were clashing swords again. Forte watched his opponent carefully, an amused expression on his face.

"There aren't many Navis who can claim to have survived a trip to the other side," he mentioned through the fighting. "What exactly does the digital afterlife look like?"

"How should I know?" Megaman replied, annoyed with the fact that his enemy could make small talk while he himself was fighting for his life. "I wasn't there to see it, I was restored. Why would I have memories of that?"

Forte smirked as he continued to swing away, trying to pierce his opponent's defenses. "If you don't remember it, how do you know that's what happened? Almost nobody survives the deletion process... I think it's more likely that you're just a fake."

"A what?"

Forte's eyes narrowed as he grinned, trying to goad Megaman into anger. "A fake. Another pale copy, further yet removed from who you used to be, and the good doctor is too proud to tell you the truth."

Megaman gritted his teeth. "Shut up!" He thrusted his blade toward Forte's face; his enemy quickly ducked and punched him squarely in the jaw, knocking him back and to the ground. Forte quickly jumped and brought his blade down on the blue Navi, who raised his own sword to block it. Their blades met, and a strength battle began, with each trying to push their sword toward the other.

"Your voice is shaking with anger... perhaps fear and doubt as well," Forte taunted, as he matched Megaman's strength with his own. "I'm not surprised... it wouldn't be the first time Hikari tried to recreate his son." He raised his fist and brought it toward his opponent's face; Megaman reached out and caught the first in his spare hand.

"I am his son!" Megaman shot back, his eyes lit up with anger. "I've never doubted that, and I never will. If you think I'll fall into that trap and believe you, you're crazy."

"I know more about this than you think I do," Forte warned, an odd, carefree feeling spreading throughout his body for a moment. "I've had my eyes on SciLab for years and years. I've seen all its dirty secrets that it hides from those who should know."

"The same goes for you, pal. I know the secret that you were trying to hide from me."

Forte's eyebrows raised, but before he could inquire further, he was knocked away by a huge yellow-and-red object hitting him with the force of a train. Megaman watched him fly to another part of the arena, landing hard on the ground. He turned back to find Gutsman standing near him, his fist outstretched, with a grin on his face.

"Gutsman!" Megaman exclaimed, getting to his feet. "How did you do that? You can't move fast enough for that!" Dex's Navi gestured downward and tapped his foot; glancing downward, Megaman saw a pair of metallic grey boots on his feet, with jets of air hissing steam out of the back.

"AirShoes! Borrowed 'em from Glyde. Let me jet around at light speed!" He turned his attention back toward his cloaked enemy, who was rising to his feet; he buckled down like a linebacker, as huge bursts of steam started to issue forth from the boots. "Check this out!" With a massive steam blast, Gutsman shot off like a rocket in Forte's direction.

"Blasted... stronger than I thought he was..." Hearing the burst of steam, Forte looked up and saw a red and yellow blur coming toward him at high speed. He quickly moved to dodge, but yelped when he found something closing around his body; looking down, he found a monstrous purple hand had grasped him around his midsection, originating from a strange metal object that looked like the gate from Gateman's chest. He managed to pry himself free, but not quick enough to get out of the way of Gutsman's attack, and he found himself thrown far again.

"Grah! Enough of this!" He righted himself in midair and focused for a minute, and a small, crackling, black barrier formed around his body. He turned himself toward his opponent, as Gutsman readied himself to ram Forte a third time. "I'm up for a game of chicken if you are..." He flew himself down close to the ground, speeding in Gutsman's direction, as Dex's Navi prepared himself for another go.

"You fool!" Protoman called out, running over to try and stop the impending collision. "Get away from him!" His words were too late to stop Gutsman's charge, as he flew forward into the oncoming enemy. The two didn't meet head-on, but half of Gutsman's body sped right into the Dark Aura and immediately disintegrated. As Forte flew past, Gutsman's left half fell forward, tumbling mightily across the arena before slowly coming to a stop.

"No! Gutsman!" Dex cried out, grabbing his PET with both hands. He watched helplessly as the remains of his Navi dissolved into deletion, its participation in this battle finished. He clenched his fist and teeth tightly and angrily; Gutsman was far from doomed, as he always kept a backup on his home computer, but this battle was going to continue without him. He slammed his fist on the console in front of him before turning his eyes to the main screen in the center of the auditorium.

Back in the Cyberworld, Forte slowly rose in the air, watching Gutsman's body fizzle away. He turned his eyes back down to the remaining Navis, who simply stared in shock at what they had witnessed.

"How are we supposed to deal with that?" Roll wondered aloud, as Glyde looked on in amazement next to her. "If it can disintegrate things on contact... he's invincible!" She meeped as the cloaked Navi looked down at her, his eyes drawn by her voice. He flew down and dashed at her; she shoved Glyde away in response and quickly dashed away at top speed. Forte's eyebrows raised, as he found himself having trouble keeping track of her movements.

"Speedy little pest... I need to acquire that from her when I get the chance." Remembering her ability to heal the other Navis, he took off after her as fast as he could, as the others searched for the most powerful attacks they could muster. Megaman did the same, focusing his mind on a technique he'd never tried before, wondering if it would be powerful enough to stop Forte.

Gateman, however, had a different plan in mind. He had once again, on Mr. Famous's orders, prepared his Gate Cannon, and was aiming it for Forte as best he could. He pointed the cannon in front of him, waiting for his adversary to cross his line of fire. Soon enough, Roll ran right through his aiming sight, with the cloaked Navi close behind.

"Now!" Gateman began to fire his blast, just as Roll took a sharp turn back toward the cannon's path, in an attempt to lose her pursuer. Gateman's eyes widened in surprise, but it was too late to stop the cannon from firing at both of the Navis. Roll yelped and dove to the ground, but part of her torso was still caught in the blast, which knocked Forte back a bit, but did nothing to crack his Dark Aura.

"Aah!" Roll tumbled and rolled across the ground, landing at Gateman's feet and knocking him over like a bowling pin. The two collapsed on top of each other, as Forte got his bearings and turned toward his attacker. He sped toward the two of them, expanding his Dark Aura a bit to make sure both are defeated, before a red blast from a Life Sword 2 crossed his path, striking his aura right before his eyes. He quickly stopped and looked up toward his source, seeing Protoman standing on top of a flying Glyde.

"Are you sure this will work, Master Protoman?" Glyde inquired, as his rider prepared another Program Advance, and Forte took off in their direction.

"With enough powerful blows, any Aura should break eventually," Protoman replied, two swords in hand, as the enemy drew closer. "Speaking of which, get ready." Glyde nodded in response, as the Dark Aura quickly zoomed closer. Right before the attack connected, a powerful Life Aura surrounded both of them, and the Auras collided heavily with each other, Forte bouncing off and back.

Shaking his head, he looked back at the two, only for his eyes to be met with the bright green flash of a Life Sword 3. He braced himself, covering his face with his arms and assuming a defensive stance, as the attack collided with his Dark Aura and dissipated. The Aura remained, but it crackled more weakly, and appeared more thin than before. His eyes zeroed in on Protoman, giving him a derisive look, as the Official Navi caught his breath, needing a bit of time for the next attack.

"It seems you're not invincible after all!" he called out, forming a Fire Blade on his arm, in preparation for one last Life Sword 3. "How much longer can that Dark Aura last?"

Forte snorted angrily, raising his arm above his head. "That's a question you should ask yourself." A large, purple energy wheel formed above his head, and swinging his arm down, he hurled it directly at the Life Aura separating him from his assailants. He forced it forward into the barrier, as Protoman gritted his teeth and forned an Aqua Blade on his other arm.

Chaud, standing in the control room of the building, clenched his fist lightly, trying not to get his impatience get the better of him. If he waited too long, Forte would destroy the Life Aura and Protoman, but if he lost his sync with his Navi, the attack would fail. He closed his eyes and focused, keeping his breathing in check while Protoman recovered, and hoping the time given would be enough.

Forte continued to force his energy wheel into the Life Aura, as Glyde tried to pump a bit more energy into it. Protoman held onto his two blades as he felt a bit of strength return, and decided this was the time to try his hand. He raised both blades above his head, summoning the final chip, and a bright green energy blade formed above his head. He gritted his teeth and started to swing downward.

"Haaah!" With one final push, the wheel shattered the Life Aura, knocking both Navis back and sending them falling to the ground. Protoman tried to send his attack in Forte's direction, but the sudden trip groundward had broken both his and Chaud's concentration, and the energy quickly died away. He cursed under his breath as his frame fell back toward the others.

Glyde's frame hit the ground first, landing hard and flat on his back. Forte's frame landed on top of Glyde's a moment later, plunging his sword downward into Glyde's chest. Yai gasped and cried out as her Navi's eyes went wide, before the body fizzled and turned to cyberdust in deletion, flying upward and away.

Forte smirked as he stood up, turning his attention toward Chaud's Navi, who was trying to get to his damaged feet. "That's two down... and now I can rid myself of the troublesome Official." He brandished his sword and started walking forward, his weakened Dark Aura still crackling around him, when Megaman suddenly stepped forward to shield Protoman. He held his hands out in front of him, focused, as Forte smirked and prepared himself for another charge.

"You can't protect him, Megaman!" he called out. "But if you intend to throw your newfound life away, be my guest!" He flew forward, expanding his Aura again, as Megaman gritted his teeth and focused as hard as he could.

"Come on... this has to work..." he told himself, as his hands started to glow. Forte paid the attack no mind and continued on at full speed, ready to delete both of them, when Megaman's hands began to transform and grow. In a matter of seconds, a huge object formed on the end of his hands, and Forte barely had time to slow down as he saw the hideous head of Gospel appear in front of him, its mouth agape and glowing with energy.

Forte's eyes widened, as his mind quickly flashed back to a few minutes ago, where he had briefly grappled with Megaman. Megaman's hand had grasped his own fist, and an odd sensation had spread throughout his body; it could only have been the effects of the Get Ability program. His instant of bewilderment and hesitation betrayed him, and he had no time to get out of the way of the ensuing blast.

"You..." was all he managed to get out, before Lan's Navi let loose with the massive blast of a Gospel Cannon. The Dark Aura, stressed to its breaking point, shattered into pieces, and Forte's body bore the brunt of the attack head-on. His frame was thrown backward, though suspended in the air by the force of the cannon. His eyes were wide with shock, and he was too bewildered to scream, despite the intense pain that engulfed him.

A few seconds later, the head of Gospel vanished from Megaman's hands, and the attack ceased. Forte's frame fell to the ground and lay motionless, his left arm and a large chunk of his torso missing. His eyes remained wide as they stared blankly off into the distance.

Megaman exhaled in relief, as he sank to his knees, slightly drained from the energy the Gospel Cannon took from him. Protoman slowly stood behind him; at another part of the arena, a humbled Gateman was moving forward to help Roll. Inside DenDome itself, there was a mixture of cheering and confused conversation, as few people were really sure what had just happened. Some were convinced it was a stunt, while others believed that Gateman and his allies had defeated some cyber criminal who was seeking revenge. Either way, they were relieved and ecstatic at the battle's conclusion.

"Ha!" Dex called out, thrusting his fist into the air. "Take that, you finheaded jerk!" Yai recoiled from his rising fist, while Mayl sighed in relief and watched Roll through her PET, as she struggled to stand. She fished through her folder for a recovery chip, as inside the arena, Megaman and Protoman began walking in her direction.

"Whew... Roll, are you alright?" Megaman asked, kneeling down next to her just as Mayl got her a recovery chip; she got to her feet quickly, and Megaman followed awkwardly.

"I'm okay now," she replied, moving her arms to feel for any more pain. "Thank goodness that's over..."

"I had better phone Dr. Hikari." Megaman touched his hand to his ear as Roll glanced over at Protoman, concerned for any injuries he may have received. Nobody in the room was looking over in Forte's direction for now, and neither did they notice the faint twitching of his hand as it reached toward the ground. As his hand made contact with the floor of the Cyberworld, the area where he touched slowly turned grey, its color and energy drained. The grey spot continued to grow, surrounded by a small ring of light, until it extended a few feet in each direction around Forte, who began to stir, slowly opening his eyes and sitting up.

Several children noticed his movement as he winced, grabbing the painful hole carved out of his body, and Megaman and the others quickly turned to look at him. Instead of focusing on his adversaries, Forte glanced down at the ground, which had completely lost its color; his eyebrow raised involuntarily.

"Astounding," he muttered to himself, temporarily unaware of his surroundings. "This body... lets me draw power directly from the Net itself." He held up his remaining hand, inspecting it carefully, when he was drawn out of his musings by the call from across the arena.

"Forte!" Megaman called out, running over along with Protoman, swords out. DenDome was abuzz with this new development, as nearly everyone wondered aloud who this mysterious Navi was, and how he could still be standing after such a brutal onslaught. Megaman quickly reached his enemy, pointing his sword at him, then quickly jumping back as a weak Barrier formed around the half-beaten Navi.

Protoman began swinging his sword at the shield, while Megaman slammed on it once or twice with his fist. "Give it up, Forte! Surrender! You're way too weak to fight us, and that Barrier can't hold out forever!"

Forte smirked, extending his hand and showing it to the blue Navi tauntingly. "I don't need it to hold out forever... just for a few more seconds." Megaman's eyebrows shot up, as he watched his adversary take his hand and place it on the ground.

A small ring of light formed on the ground around Forte, outlining the grey section of the Cyberworld that he had sucked dry; an instant later, the ring grew and shot out in every direction, removing the color and energy from everything it touched. Megaman cried out briefly as the ring passed by, a light burning sensation passing through his feet, before turning around to watch the energy-absorbing line expand far off into the distance, far beyond the reaches of the Cyber arena.

Above the children in the real world, the lights of DenDome began to flash and burst one by one, each light bulb emitting a small explosion as the ring of energy passed by. The youngsters shrieked and covered their heads, and many of them stood up and started running for the doors in a panic; Mayl, Dex and Yai had to cling to their seats to avoid being swept along with the panicked crowd. The lights in the room slowly went dim, leaving only a few scattered ceiling lights, and the bright display of the central viewing column.

Megaman turned back to the black Navi, and his eyes went wide with horror as he saw Forte morph before his eyes. He quickly grew back the arm and pieces of torso that he was missing, as his body started to glow from the immense energy he was receiving. Megaman ran forward to try and attack, but as he got close to his opponent, he felt himself pushed back by the radiating energy; Forte was gathering so much strength that it was forming a sort of protective barrier around his body. Lan's Navi gritted his teeth and steeled himself, trying to maintain his position and think of any sort of plan.

Outside of DenDome, the scenario was just as bad. As the lights of the colosseum went out, so too did traffic lights, nearby buildings, and other local electronics that were somehow wired into the Den City network. The blackout spread rather quickly, causing mass confusion among the citizens, and chaos in the traffic system. Eventually, the energy drain began to slow, and came to a stop, after six city blocks had nearly all of their power sapped, pumped into a single source.

The remaining DenDome occupants watched in horror as Forte finally stood, still giving off a white glow as the energy he collected settled into his body. He looked down at his hands, grinning ear to ear in near disbelief at the immense power he now held.

"This... this is phenomenal!" he exclaimed to himself. "Never have I felt a power such as this..." He looked around at the remaining Navis, smirking at the horrified expressions on their faces. "Let's see what I can do with this..."

He suddenly took off like a rocket, flying in the direction of Roll and Gateman at a blinding speed, before anyone had time to react. An instant later, he stood before a surprised Gateman, staring at the expression on his face before turning his attention downward, where he had completely driven his arm through Gateman's chest.

"What...?!" Mr. Famous exclaimed, in complete shock. He stared at the gruesome scene for a moment, before Forte withdrew his arm, and the defeated Navi fell to the ground in a heap before dissolving away nto deletion. Forte grinned in amusement, amazed by the strength he had acquired, as Roll quickly tried to scramble away from behind him. Hearing her escape, he quickly whirled around and cast his hand out; instantly, a wall of flame shot up around the edges of the arena, cutting off Roll's escape path. She had to quickly hit the brakes to avoid ramming into the firewall; as she did, her pursuer dashed forward and grabbed her by the wrist, holding her up in the air.

"Ahh! Let me go!" Roll exclaimed, as she struggled and kicked her legs, trying to get free. Her body went limp a moment later, as a strange sensation spread quickly through her frame, numbing her limbs. Forte smirked and tossed her aside, and she landed in a crumpled heap on the ground. He scanned the arena, looking for one of the other two Navis, when he felt a slight pain in his torso; glancing downward, he saw the red blade of a Long Sword jutting out of his chest. Protoman stood behind him, his arm transformed into the blade that he had stabbed through his enemy's frame.

"Fool... let your guard down..." he spoke, as Forte pondered this new development. He reached down and grasped the sword with his hand, breaking off half of it in one clean motion, before stepping forward off of Protoman's sword. Both Chaud and his Navi stared in amazement and horror at Forte's gaping wound; seconds later, the wound glowed a bright white. When the glow faded, Forte's body was whole again, as if he had never been damaged at all. He smirked as he turned back to Chaud's Navi, still holding the broken-off Long Sword in his hand.

"Excellent... this works even better than I thought." He quickly dashed forward and plunged the blade through Protoman's shoulder, who stifled a cry of pain as he grabbed his enemy's shoulders, trying to push him off. Megaman ran toward the highly lopsided struggle, still processing what had just happened.

"How can... he's even stronger than before!" he exclaimed to Lan, whose mind was racing for possibilities. "And I can't use that Gospel thing again! How are we supposed to fight him?"

"Damn it..." Lan clenched his fist, squinting a tiny bit at the screen as it shone through the relative DenDome darkness. Forte was impossibly strong now, stronger than Megaman for certain, but the firewall he created prevented the two from backing out and regrouping elsewhere. Lan knew that only one of the two Navis would be leaving DenDome, and he had a sick feeling as to who it might be.

As Forte forced his opponent down to the ground, Megaman ran up to the two of them, bringing his blade down onto Forte's side while blasting him in the head. Glancing over without moving his head, or showing any pain at all, the cloaked Navi jerked his arm up and away while still holding the broken blade, completely severing Protoman's arm from his body. The official cried out and fell to the ground, holding the stump where his arm used to be; Forte quickly turned and swung the sword at Megaman's face. Megaman quickly bent backward to dodge, but found himself knocked away by a powerful kick.

He skidded along the ground before coming to a stop, lying on his back; Forte followed seconds later, landing hard with his foot pressing down on his opponent's stomach. Gritting his teeth, Megaman grabbed Forte's foot and tried to force him off, to no avail; his enemy smirked and watched at the futile display, wondering what to do next.

"Rrgh... I can't..." Megaman gasped. "Lan, I can't do anything... he's going to win... he's too strong..."

"No... there has to be something! But..." Lan racked his brain, desperate for a solution. One came to mind quickly, but the consequences would be severe. "We have to do it... we have to go HubStyle!"

"Lan, I can't go Hubstyle! The effects take way too much out of you!" Forte's eyebrow raised as he listened in, wondering what was going on, as Lan responded.

"If we don't, then you'll be deleted! This is the only chance we have!" Megaman began to respond, but was startled when he felt the pressure leave his stomach. He looked up at his attacker, who had a curious look on his face.

"What is this HubStyle effect you're talking about?" he inquired. "You think you have some ace in the hole that can defeat me? And by that name..."

"What do you..." Megaman began, before Forte leapt off and away, allowing Megaman to get to his feet.

"All right then, show me." His eyes watched as Lan's Navi slowly and confusedly got to his feet. "You've piqued my scientific curiosity. Let me see this HubStyle of yours."

"Wha... but..." Megaman shook his head and looked upward, as Lan stared into his PET. "Lan, are you sure about this?"

"No, but we have no choice now." He quickly navigated his PET menu, coming to a new option that he hadn't thought he would be resorting to. "I'm activating it now! Get ready, Megaman!"

Megaman nodded, as his body started to glow brightly; his adversary looked on, eager to see this new transformation. A few seconds later, there was a bright flash, and Forte was finally forced to look away for a moment; when the light faded and he looked back, his eyes widened a bit at what he saw. Megaman's eyes did as well, as he looked down at himself.

"Lan, what happened? Nothing changed!" He looked all around himself, confirming that there had been no transformation at all. Lan's eyes boggled, just as confused as anyone, when a message in red appeared on his PET screen:

_Firewall error. HubStyle transformation will require 60 seconds._

"Gragh!" Lan cried out, exasperated. "Megaman, it's going to take a minute!"

"What?! I'm not sure we-" Megaman began, before he felt the air get knocked out of him; Forte dashed forward and elbowed him hard in the stomach, and he fell to his knees, eyes wide.

"A bluff... how disappointing. I expected more." He used his foot to knock Megaman onto his side, stepping onto his shoulder and raising a Elec Blade above his head. "It seems there is nothing more to see here. Goodbye, Megaman."

Megaman tried to tell his attacker the truth, that he just needed some time, but he couldn't make a sound as he gasped for air. Forte quickly began to bring the blade down toward his neck, but was knocked away at the last second by a large object flying into him. He quickly turned around to land on his feet and searched for his attacker; his eyes quickly identified Protoman, his feet and remaining hand on the ground, helping him stand. Roll was getting to her feet as well, having helped propel Protoman toward his target.

"Grr... enough of this!" He cast his hand toward Protoman, who felt himself knocked back by what felt like a powerful burst of air; seconds later, his body turned into a beam of light and shot upward, having been forcibly sent back into his PET by Forte's attack. He turned his sights toward Roll and attempted the same attack, but she darted off at top speed and managed to avoid it. He gritted his teeth and chased after her, as Megaman slowly got to his feet, his legs still shaky.

"Mega, are you alright?" Lan asked, not feeling the greatest himself; his legs were trembling, perhaps out of nervousness, perhaps out of fatigue.

"Ugh... it's like he knocked my stomach out of place... but I can stand, at least." Megaman held himself as he watched Forte and Roll's chase, hoping that her speed would keep her safe for long enough. "We only need a minute..." His legs gave way underneath him, and he fell to one knee; Lan did the same, at the same time. They fell to both knees soon after, the same intense pain starting to build in their arms, chests, stomachs.

In the Cyber arena, Roll was firing arrows uselessly at her pursuer, who dodged them with little effort and only the slightest drop in speed; he was slowly gaining on her. Soon after, once he was close enough, he cast his hand at the ground, which turned to think, tangled grass under her feet; not expecting the change in terrain, Roll had to pick her feet up more and soon ended up losing her footing, falling to the ground. Forte was on her in an instant, grabbing her by the ankle and holding her up, as she struggled.

"This is the third time we've been in this position," he commented, looking down at her panicked face. "And if I can help it, it will be the last." Before he could deliver the coup de grace, however, he was interrupted by a cry of pain from nearby. Both Navis quickly looked over, to see Megaman kneeling on the ground, grasping his forearms and trembling as he started to glow; inside DenDome, Lan was assuming the same position. The HubStyle process had linked their minds, and both of them were now sharing Megaman's pain, the pain of a body receiving far more energy than it was ready to contain.

As the remaining people watched, Megaman let out a terrible scream as a spherical wave of energy shot out of his body, leaking through every part of him, as the transformation process hadn't yet readied his body for his newfound strength. Lan let out the same scream, collapsing to the ground and startling everyone in the room, before he appeared to lose consciousness; Mayl and Yai quickly got out of their seats and ran down the stairs to check on him, as Dex looked down awkwardly, then grabbed Mayl's PET to check on Roll.

"A suicide attack?" Forte tossed Roll to the ground and moved back as the energy ball crept closer. It expanded in size and nearly filled the Cyber arena before it finally slowed, and then stopped. Both Forte and Roll had to look away from the powerful bright light, and neither could see if Megaman was still there in the center of it.

"Lan!" Mayl called out, kneeling next to his side and shaking him lightly; he was now lying on the floor, breathing but not responding. Yai nudged him more heavily, shaking his head, but eliciting no response. Beside him, his PET lay ignored, flashing a message on screen:

_Firewall breached. Transformation complete._

Inside the Cyberworld, the two Navis watched as the energy sphere began to recede, all the energy starting to sink in and focus on its origin point. The sphere eventually receded completely, leaving a glowing frame lying on the ground; the glow faded soon as well, leaving a somewhat unfamiliar body behind.

"Mega...?" Roll spoke softly, as both Navis looked him over. His armor had disappeared completely, leaving him in a dark blue bodysuit, with his circular emblem printed on his chest. In place of his helmet, black, spiky hair lay scattered about, covering one of his eyes almost completely. He looked more defenseless than before, and more human as well. Many of the DenDome visitors watched on, puzzled at this turn of events.

At the same time, Lan and Megaman's eyes snapped open, causing Mayl to jump a bit in surprise. Lan slowly got to his feet, grabbing his PET and looking at the main DenDome screen, not saying a word; as he got up, Megaman did the same, getting to his feet and looking over his body.

"Hm," he muttered. "No armor..."

"Megaman! Are you alright?" He looked up as Roll got to her feet and headed toward him, snapping Forte out of his observations; his head quickly turned toward her.

"Hold it!" he called out, racing toward her; he wasn't about to see her use her healing powers on him, or any other surprises that she might have. Megaman's eyes narrowed and he dashed forward, between the two of them; he jumped in the air and kneed Forte powerfully in the face, and the force of the impact sent the cloaked Navi flying to the other side of the arena, crashing into his own firewall. The room watched in amazement as Megaman fell back down to the ground, in slight disbelief of what they had just witnessed.

"Urgh..." Forte stood slowly, holding his face and looking back at his adversary, taken aback by the display of power. "How is that possible? You couldn't hold a candle to me just minutes ago!" He gritted his teeth, and a familiar dark sphere formed around him, crackling with anger and strength. Megaman steeled himself, clenching his fist and motioning for Roll to get back.

Mayl and Yai weren't sure where to look, as they alternated their gazes. Megaman's display of strength was incredible, but Lan was just as amazing to look at. He seemed to be staring off into space, not even looking at the battle, yet he seemed incredibly focused, and his hands moved with precision as he operated his PET. It was as if he could see the battle without even looking at it.

Forte stared Megaman down as his Dark Aura crackled around him, and Megaman stared right back determinedly. Roll in turn stared at Lan's Navi, wondering what kind of change had come over him, and how he was able to knock Forte back the way he was. Her gaze was interrupted when Forte called out to his opponent.

"Let's see how strong you really are, Megaman!" he taunted, as the aura began to expand in every direction, threatening the existence of everything in its way. Megaman didn't move a muscle, continuing to stare down the cloaked Navi as the deadly sphere moved toward him. Right before it made contact with his body, he extemded his hand, palm outstretched, and caught the aura in his hand, completely stopping its advance.

Half the room gasped at this, as Forte's eyes widened in abject disbelief. Outside of the Cyberworld, Lan reached into his pocket without looking and produced a Battlechip, slotting it in. Megaman clenched his fist and raised it up, where a golden, armored glove formed on it. Letting out a brief battle cry, he slammed the fist into the barrier, which shattered into a thousand pieces like glass and fell to the ground of the Cyberworld.

"One punch..." Mr. Famous looked at the DenDome screen in amazement, then down at Lan, who stared ahead with an unshaken focus. He tried to process what had just happened, his mind blown, before resigning himself to watching the battle like the others. What few children had remained in the audience were now glued to their seats, not willing to miss out on this incredible event. Everyone had their mouths closed in silence, and their eyes fixated on the screen.

Forte's gaze was fixed on Megaman, not sure he believed what he had just seen; in the span of just about two minutes, his adversary's strength had more than doubled due to this HubStyle transformation. He and Megaman looked into each other's eyes apprehensively, both waiting for the other to make their move. Finally, Forte dashed forward, ready to take on the offensive; Megaman ran forward in response, no longer afraid of his enemy. The two Navis clashed in the center of the arena, and the battle began anew.


	39. Chapter 13: HubStyle

**New Megaman Battle Network**

A complete reimagining of the universe and stories of Megaman Battle Network.

_Story 3: The Rise And Fall Of Forte_

* * *

Chapter 13: HubStyle

"Gerald, how are we looking?" Dr. Hikari watched through a monitor as several assistants scurried about one of SciLab's heavy-duty equipment rooms. In the center of a room was a sort of pedestal, which several people were paying attention to; the others were seated at computer terminals lining the side of the room.

"Everything seems alright, Dr. Hikari!" one of the assistants responded. "We're all set up just as your research notes specified! We should be able to start as soon as we have power!"

Yuichiro nodded, wishing that he could have been the one who wrote those research notes. He turned his head toward a second monitor, showing another room with a machine-like pedestal at its center; it, too, was prepared for the experiment that was about to take place.

"Yuichiro." Dr. Hikari turned around toward the voice behind him; it belonged to Dr. Regal, who was standing in the doorway behind him. "The dimensional generators are warming up. It should be about five minutes."

"Good." Regal stepped forward to inspect the monitors, as Yuichiro turned back to them as well. "I can't believe we're actually about to do this... I just hope we can get this finished before Forte discovers what we're doing."

His partner shook his head. "We should be fine. No one knows that we're doing this right now. If Forte managed to breach our upgraded security, we'd know about it, and we can just pull the plug."

"Yeah, sure." Yuichiro looked upward, lost in thought. The back of his mind was telling him that this was a terrible idea, but the advice was being completely drowned out. The two scientists were on the verge of an amazing new discovery, and a powerful curiosity, a sort of greed, had overtaken him. He was no more able to restrain himself than he was able to stop breathing. He watched the pedestal carefully, hoping that his curiosity wasn't about to get the better of him.

* * *

Many of the children at DenDome had fled while Forte was sapping its power for himself, running to safety. Those who remained witnessed one of the greatest Netbattles of their lives.

Megaman and Forte zipped around the arena, swords clashing and projectiles firing. Their speed and strength were enormous; their movements from one place to the next were hard to track, and their swords and fists struck each other with incredible force. The two were more than a match for each other with their newfound power, and the battle proceeded with intensity few people had ever seen.

Forte grew more frustrated with each blow that was deflected, not at all bolstered by the ones that landed. Minutes ago he had been throwing his opponent around like a rag doll, but this HubStyle transformation had increased Megaman's power far beyond his expectations, and for the first time in ages, Forte was unable to gain control of a battle. He found himself jumping backward and creating distance, trying to come up with a new strategy before his enemy could advance again.

Megaman continued to be the aggressor, continually closing the space between himself and Forte to push on with his attacks; he knew how clever and intelligent his opponent was, and didn't want to give him a chance to think up some new tricks.

He dashed forward and swung his sword, and at the same moment Forte held up a purple energy disc as a sort of shield; the spinning attack knocked Megaman's sword back, and his enemy smirked and dashed forward, holding up the makeshift energy shield. Megaman had to dash backwards to avoid being injured, and just like that, Forte had the advantage again.

"You've done well so far, but not well enough!" He flung the energy wheel at his opponent and spawned several more, as Megaman continued to dodge backwards, his sword not particularly effective against the attacks. He was backing toward the firewall, and having to suddenly move in any direction would leave him open for an attack.

Forte moved in to strike a powerful blow, when he felt several stinging pains along his back and side. Turning his head, he spotted Roll firing numerous crossbow shots in his direction; Mayl, not content with sitting and watching the dangerous battle play out, had jacked her PET back into the main terminal. Yai and Dex were waiting for their Navis to be restored, so they could join the fight as well.

Forte growled and flung an energy wheel at Roll, which she jumped away from. He quickly turned back toward his opponent, but the momentary distraction proved to be too long; Megaman jumped forward, a newly formed Life Sword in hand, and sliced Forte into two parts with a diagonal slash.

As Forte fell to the ground, his newly-acquired healing kicked into action, and he was back in one piece before he hit the ground. He quickly flipped himself upright and held his blade above his head, as Megaman brought his crashing down; the two superpowered Navis fought against each other, pressing their swords together trying to gain the upper hand.

"Rrgh... far more powerful than I expected..." Forte dug his heels in. "I suppose it's appropriate that it has come to this... then again, you don't know what I'm talking about..."

"I know exactly what you're talking about." Megaman gritted his teeth, forcing his sword harder against Forte's, trying to break his block. "I've known from the moment you deleted me days ago. I've known ever since you looked toward me with that icy glare, as you finished me off with a single blow."

Forte bent back further, as the force of his enemy's anger pushed him closer to the ground. "I remember it clealy now... you had that same look on your face back in SciLab, twelve years ago, when you decided to interfere with a cautionary procedure... when you murdered Hub Hikari."

"Hmph." Forte smirked, despite the situation. "I didn't think you would have memories from so early in your life."

"Shut up!" Megaman retorted. "How could you ever... how?! Explain yourself, you monster!" In a rage, he kicked his foot out at his opponent, trying to get in another attack; his cloaked foe used the opportunity to force Megaman off balance, and the two were soon clashing swords again.

"Call it a sociology experiment," Forte responded, advancing slightly on his opponent as they fought. "I was observing how you humans interact with Navis in unique situations. One of many attempts to understand how you people work... whether or not the human race is worth saving, and it is not."

"Experiments?!" Megaman shot back, swinging his sword with anger, starting to lose focus. "You think that humans are just your playthings? Who are you to pass judgment on them, when you murder them on a whim?"

"I am beyond reproach! I am the avatar of judgment itself!" Forte barked back, as he readied another attack in his free hand. "I have been chosen to judge the world by my god, the god who restored my frame and gave me purpose! He has given me this task, and I will not fail him!"

He flung an energy blast at his foe, but Megaman managed to deflect it with a near-instantaneous Reflect chip. As the blast went off in Forte's surprised face, his opponent rushed forward and stabbed his Life Sword through Forte's chest.

"You won't be judging anyone anymore," Megaman retorted. "I'm going to stop you here and now, once and for all." His cloaked foe responded by pushing Megaman back, forcing himself off of the sword, as the injury quickly mended itself.

"How do you expect to do that? I can heal any damage you do to me, in case you've forgotten."

"But not for free." Megaman pointed his sword at his enemy, during the brief pause in the action. "Each heal takes away some of your energy; you're becoming weaker with each killing blow I land. And that's how I'm going to win." He flung several Boomerang chips around his opponent, before dashing forward again.

Forte jumped back and spun his sword around, dispatching most of the Boomerangs before resuming his attack on his opponent. Megaman was right; at the rate things were going, it was possible he would lose this battle. He had to re-evaluate his strategy before things went drastically downhill.

* * *

"Power is at 100%!" someone called out, as the SciLab machines gathered energy into a certain spot, above a mechanical pedestal.

Lucius Regal was at a terminal nearby, ready for the next step. This is as far as they had ever gotten generating a Dimensional Core; at this point, the energy always dissipated before any more progress could be made. Using Forte's research notes, however, they had identified a stabilizing agent that could prove to be the solution to their problems.

"Stabilizing now..." Regal pressed a button and monitored a few knobs, carefully watching the ball of light forming on the pedestal. In another room, Yuichiro Hikari carefully monitored the energy levels, hoping that this time, they would finally get the results they were looking for.

Everyone involved with the experiment watched with bated breath as the pedestal started to light up, and the energy ball above it began to rotate. The rotation became faster for a short time, before the energy started to glow with a rainbow of colors that everyone involved was familiar with. Eventually everything began to settle, and the energy ball swam with color, having finally arrived at its desired state; after months of work, they had finally created a Dimensional Core.

"We got it!" "Wooo!" "Finally!" Most of the room cheered and applauded at this turn of events, their hard work having finally borne fruit. Both Regal and Hikari sighed in relief at the result, staring at the ball in wonderment. It had the appearance of a Dimensional Area clustered into a single sphere, a rainbow orb floating atop the pedestal, existing both in the real world and the Cyberworld at the same time, providing a link between the two.

After a brief moment of celebration, Dr. Hikari heard similar celebratory noises from a nearby monitor. Looking over, he saw that the team in the second lab had also succeeded, and their room was bathed in the glowing light of a second Dimensional Core. He could hardly believe his good fortune; after months of research, they had finally devised a reliable method of generating Dimensional Cores, and they had two of them to study. He experienced a little bit of unease at the thought of using the research of a dangerous madman, but his scientific curiosity was winning out handily.

Yuichiro leaned forward to speak into a nearby microphone. "Alright guys, we don't know how long this thing is going to hold, so let's start our experiments. Let's get some Navis investigating this from the Cyberworld, see what they pick up."

The group nodded and started getting back to work, sending Navis into the Cyberworld to study this mysterious object. The group hustled and bustled as they marveled, none of them noticing the tiny foreign device affixed to a ceiling of the Cyberworld, which was now beeping quietly.

* * *

Forte slammed heavily into the firewall he had created, blown back by several energy bombs. Megaman dove forward, ready to bury his blade into his enemy's abdomen, but the cloaked Navi jumped up and over the attack. He raised his fist, which began to glow with power, and slammed it back down into the ground, knocking his opponent off his feet. Megaman quickly backflipped back upward and dashed forward, throwing energy blasts out in front of him.

"So this is the kind of power that Dr. Hikari was able to create," Forte mused aloud as he dodged his opponent's attacks. He had already taken a number of fatal blows, each one sapping more of his energy to repair, and his reserves were starting to run low. If the battle kept up in this manner much longer, he wouldn't be coming out ahead. He smirked deviously. "I guess this is what you're able to achieve when you have one less son to care for."

"Shut up!" Megaman shot back, equipping a Magnum chip and firing a volley of shots toward his enemy, which were also dodged easily; he jumped into the air and brought his Life Sword down on his opponent, and their swords clashed and struggled once again. "You love rubbing it in, don't you?"

"I'm just in awe of what Navi scientists are able to achieve." Forte continued to hold his ground, watching the anger grow in the blue Navi's face. "I'm proud that I was able to make such a development possible."

"You're proud of becoming a complete psychopath?!" Megaman flung an energy blast at his foe's face, but Forte quickly deflected it away.

"Careful, Megaman. Showing that much anger in battle can't be good for you."

"Graah!" Megaman, enraged, pivoted his body and brought his foot up toward Forte's head. His enemy smirked and reached out his hand, grabbing the foot and clutching it tight.

"After all... you might make a mistake..." He grinned maliciously, and electricity shot through his foe's body, as he began slowly draining energy. He slowly lifted himself off the ground and into the air, as Megaman screamed out in pain, his body going limp as Forte drained his strength out of him. The color began to fade from his body, starting from his foot and working up his body.

Back in DenDome, Lan cried out in pain as well, his knees buckling as he felt the energy leave his legs; while his legs were still as strong as ever, his mind was connected to Megaman's, which was now sending signals of pain and weakness. He crumpled and collapsed to the floor, still keeping a tight grip on his PET. Mayl gasped and started moving toward him, but then hesitated, looking back toward her PET. She still wasn't sure what was going on, but she could guess that Lan's sudden weakness was related to what was going on in the battle arena. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself as she watched the two Navis through her handheld screen.

Forte grinned wide, feeling energy and strength flood into his body, still amazed at just how much power this transformation had generated. This newfound strength clearly would be enough to take on any potential foe; Megaman was clearly eliminated as a threat, and he could barely conceive of any other man-made Navi with that sort of strength. Nothing would now stand in his way.

As the colorless region spread to Megaman's waist, Forte started as he felt a sharp and surprisingly strong pain through his skull; his grip on his enemy faltered, and Megaman fell back toward the ground. Looking up, he could see a Life Sword blade sticking out the front of his skull; behind him, Roll was clinging to the hilt of the Program Advance, breathing hard and slightly drained from the effort.

As the Life Sword fell apart, Roll kicked away from Forte and launched herself back toward the ground, quickly moving to catch Megaman in her arms. The blade dissipated quickly, and the wound healed quickly after, as their cloaked adversary brought his attention back downward. His eyes narrowed at the two of them.

"Sneaky little... you think that will save you?" His fist began to glow again, even brighter than before. "I'm already more powerful than both of you put together. Your last chance has vanished!" He dashed downward toward the two of them, ready to strike; Roll yelped and jumped away with Megaman in her arms, flying quite a ways in the air before landing and dashing away. The cloaked Navi turned toward the two of them, ready to pursue, when a heavy weight landed on top of him, temporarily pinning him to the ground.

"You get away from them, jerk!" Gutsman hollered from atop Forte, bringing his mighty fist down into his enemy's face; meanwhile, Glyde was behind both of them, preparing to fire a Mega Cannon. Their enemy growled and quickly lifted himself up in the air.

"Get off me, you oaf!" He grabbed Gutsman's fist and swung him around, flinging him toward Glyde and sending a series of powerful energy blasts after him. He turned and searched out Roll, who was on the other end of the arena, but still blocked in by his firewall. He flew toward them at high speed, throwing more energy wheels at her; she spied them at the last second, jumping out of the way. She quickly looked back at Forte, only to see him fly up and powerfully elbow her in the face; she cried out and was knocked away, as Megaman fell back toward the ground, crying out in pain upon landing.

He opened his eyes to see Forte flying back toward him, ready to finish him off with a powerful smash. Megaman watched his enemy quickly approach, moving at a frightening speed, before extending his buster arm and aiming it in Forte's direction; his hand glowed with a bright and powerful energy, as he had taken all the strength he had and prepared it for one last attack.

Upon seeing this, Forte's eyes widened and he quickly slowed his descent, coming to a stop right before connecting with his enemy. Both Navis faced each other, one hand bathed in a powerful light, an attack that may or may not come.

Forte eyed Megaman's energy ball for a moment before turning his eyes back to his foe's. "Hmph. You think such an attack is going to be able to stop me? I'm far more powerful than you now, you pose no threat to me."

"If that's true," Megaman replied quickly, glaring back into Forte's eyes, "then why did you hesitate?"

The two Navis stared each other down in silence, neither one sure how to react, or if they wanted to be the one to make the first move. The silence was broken by a small beeping noise in Forte's ear; he touched his hand to his ear, checking on an unexpected report from his SciLab probe. His eyes widened.

_Unbelievable,_ he thought to himself. _They've really done it..._ Forte smirked and retracted the energy back into his body, rising above his foe.

"It seems that today is your lucky day, Megaman." He brought his cloak around once again to cover his body, as the firewall surrounding the arena suddenly disappeared. "I have more important things to attend to..." In a flash, Forte disappeared, moving to other parts of the Net as fast as his frame could manage.

"Wha-?" Megaman sat up, trying to track down where his enemy flew off to in such a hurry, as Roll and a wounded Glyde dashed over, having gathered themselves together.

"What happened? Where did he run off to?" Roll kneeled next to Megaman, her hands hovering over his legs as she focused her healing powers on him; she didn't have enough energy to heal him completely, even with Mayl's Battlechips, but she could at least restore function to his legs.

"I don't know... he just said something about more important things," Megaman replied, as he gingerly got to his legs, looking in the direction where Forte went. "But I have an idea..."

Outside of the Cyberworld, Lan was getting gingerly to his feet, holding himself up by gripping the console as the strength returned to his legs. Mayl and Yai put their PETs down to walk over and inspect him, as he reached forward and jacked his Navi out of the battle arena. As soon as Megaman was back in his PET and recharging, Lan felt his legs return to normal, and he sighed in relief.

"Lan... are you..." Mayl began, before he turned and quickly ran past her; she yelped and jumped backward to avoid him.

"What the...?" Yai rushed to Mayl's side as Lan ran for the doors urgently. "How rude! Where is he going in such a hurry?" She called out after him. "Lan! Get back here!"

Lan ignored both of them, pulling out his skate wheels and dashing out onto the street, ignoring the storm clouds that were forming overhead. He turned on his PET's phone function and quickly tried calling his dad, hoping that he wasn't doing what Lan thought he was doing.

* * *

Back in SciLab, a small group of Official Navis had gathered around the Dimensional Core on the Cyberworld side. They had a variety of instruments on hand to measure its various properties, and they were now discussing venturing into the core itself; if Dr. Regal's theory was right, the Navis would appear in the same spot in the real world. They could hardly wait to try it out, feeling on the brink of a new era.

The excitement was shattered by a loud, piercing alarm that rang throughout all of SciLab. Yuichiro nearly fell out of his seat, startled, taking a moment to register what was going on. He cursed loudly once he remembered what the alarm was for; it was newly installed, designed to warn the SciLab occupants of the approach of one Navi in particular.

"Damn it! How could he possibly know what we're doing here?" He pulled up the console for the experiment, typing away. "We'll have to shut it down right away... what the?!" The screen he was working on suddenly flashed red, with a strange purple symbol in the center; it looked like a sort of horned helmet, with a hollow diamond where the face should be. Yuichiro recognized this symbol; it was the same one he found on the special Dark Chip that Lan had brought to him days prior, the Dark Chip created by Forte.

"No, no, you have to be kidding!" He moved around to more terminals, hoping to lock down the SciLab network, or at least give orders to the team in the experiment room, but everything had been securely locked down by Forte. He slammed his fist into the terminal before standing and running out of the room, his mind racing. How long had Forte had access to the SciLab systems like this? Had he been spying on them this entire time? He raced to the experiment room, ignoring the ringing that was coming from his PET.

He threw open the door to the lab, rushing in to tell them to shut down the project, when all the color drained from his face. One of the aides was being hoisted in the air by a fist grabbing her collar, a fist connected to a tall, imposing, cloaked Navi. Forte glanced over toward Yuichiro, lightly glowing with the power of the Dimensional Core, and a smirk spread across his face.

"I have to commend you, Dr. Hikari," he spoke, his grip on the aide not loosening. "I did not think you would be the first to create the Core, between the two of us. You truly are one of the greatest scientific minds on this planet."

"You..." Yuichiro managed, stunned by fear and shock. "What have you..."

"I should thank you," Forte continued, letting go of the aide and letting her fall to the floor. "You have given me the final tool I need to enact my judgment on this world." He slowly advanced on Dr. Hikari, who backed up into the computer array behind him; face-to-face with the super-powered, genius Navi he had researched, studied and indirectly battled, the only reaction he could manage was one of sheer terror.

"Whenever I imagined this moment... the instant where I finally fulfilled my destiny and obtained the Dimensional Core... I always knew that I would kill you and Regal, to remove any chances that you could create another and give it to one of your Netbattlers." He raised his hand, which quickly spawned an energy ball; Yuichiro could do nothing but eye it carefully, certain that the end was at hand.

Forte smirked. "But now that it's actually happened... I'm in a surprisingly good mood." He turned quickly and fired the blast at the computer array, instantly reducing it to a row of smoldering scrap metal as small pieces of shrapnel flew about the room, causing the others to recoil. He then reached over and tore the Dimensional Core pedestal out of the ground, flinging it into the hallway and flinging an energy wheel after it; the pedestal gave out a small explosion, and combined with the cutting action of the wheel, the ceiling of the hallway quickly caved in, blocking the group from the rest of SciLab.

"You get to live, for today. Consider this my thanks." Forte lastly aimed his hand upward, shooting off a powerful laser that cut through several floors and partially blinded the group, who had to look away. When they looked back, the Navi had disappeared.

"Dr. Hikari! Are you alright?" The lead aide, Gerald, rushed over to Yuichiro's side, as the entire group started catching their breath.

"I'm... I'm fine, not hurt... go check on Robin, he grabbed her." Gerald nodded and moved over to the other aide, as Dr. Hikari held his head, trying to gather his thoughts; he noted the small gash on the side of his head, caused by a piece of shrapnel. He was completely unprepared for this kind of worst-case scenario, never having imagined that Forte would have given himself such control over the SciLab network. Actually meeting with this mysterious Navi had left him nearly paralyzed with fear. Now, however, he had to step up to the plate, and do everything in his power to keep this menace from threatening Electopia, and perhaps even the world.

"Alright... here's the plan." He shook the intimidation from his head, as everyone in the room turned to listen. "It doesn't look like he knows about the second core. We're going out the emergency stairs, then back around the front to get that core. Once we have it, we'll find either a weapon or Navi to take Forte down. Now let's go!"

The others all nodded, and the group herded itself out the door and toward the stairs. Yuichiro racked his brain for any kind of Navi that could stop Forte, though he knew in the back of his mind that there was only one. He just hoped the two of them were ready for it.

* * *

Just as his father was heading out of SciLab, Lan was rushing in through the front door. The alarm and explosions that Forte had caused had set the entire building on high alert, and Officials were running every which way, none of them paying attention to the young boy jacking his Navi into a nearby panel.

Appearing in the Cyberworld, Megaman immediately turned his head in a certain direction, feeling the presence of the Dimensional Core, as its power broadcasted itself throughout the Net. Still in Hubstyle, there was no need for the two to communicate; Lan immediately jacked his Navi out, knowing the approximate location of the core, and ran for the nearest stairs.

Three floors up, he exited the stairs and started running through the halls, peeking in through every single room, ignoring the small number of scientists who were still evacuating. After what seemed like a hundred doors, he finally saw one room that was bathed in a familiar rainbow light; he rushed in and quickly spotted the Dimensional Core, the item that Forte had been so desperately seeking.

_This is it,_ he thought to himself, walking forward slowly. _Looks like he hasn't found it yet. There's only one way I can think of to keep it from him..._ He reached out to touch the core and absorb it into his body, already picturing the showdown that was going to take place. Forte was more powerful than Megaman was, now, but he would have to find some way to defeat him nonetheless. His mind started to consider the idea of a self-sacrifice, as his hand started to shake.

His ruminations were interrupted by a movement behind him; turning around quickly, he had no time to react before Forte reached out and grabbe him by the collar, lifting him into the air. He cried out in pain and surprise, grabbing at the hand holding him up, as his foe smirked.

"I knew you'd be back here, trying to get the second core." He grinned maliciously, his mind reeling with what to do now that he had his greatest obstacle in his grasp. "You and your Navi have caused me quite a lot of trouble... but he's no good without you, is he?"

Forte turned and heavily flung Lan toward the far wall, which he impacted hard enough to break a bone or two. He didn't even have time to fall to the ground before the Navi bodychecked him, slamming him into the wall even harder; Lan's eyes went wide as the air left him, and his head pitched forward as he coughed up no small amount of blood.

Forte grinned evilly, looking down toward Lan's abdomen, and the Wide Sword that was now completely piercing his body; the blade tore through his insides, skewering his vital organs and pinning the young boy to the wall. He slowly removed the sword, causing Lan to fall helplessly to the ground, blood pouring out of his wound and onto the floor.

"That will take care of you." Forte smirked and put away his blade, as Lan weakly clutched at his stomach, coughing up more blood. "I think I'll leave you to die right here, in view of the object you were hoping could save you. Let that be the thought to accompany you into whatever happens to you next." He laughed and formed a Dark Aura around himself, flying upward and blasting through the roof, as Lan weakly turned his eyes toward the remaining Dimensional Core.

* * *

"Alright, finally out!" Dr. Hikari's group made their way through the final door, exiting through the side of SciLab to the outdoors, where rain was just starting to fall. Sirens could be heard outside the building, and as the group moved toward the front of the building, they saw a large number of scientists gathered around, all chattering nervously and unsure of what had transpired. Paramedics and firefighters had gathered, and a rescue crew was being prepared to sweep through the building, looking for anyone who was injured or hadn't made it out.

The small group rushed over, relieved to see help and prepared to dictate the situation to the others, when another crashing sound came from the building. Dr. Hikari quickly turned his head, and his eyes went wide when he saw Forte escaping through the ceiling, flying off into the distance.

"Wait, what?! Forte was still in there?!" He cursed and started running toward the rescue crews as fast as he could, praying that he hadn't gotten his hands on the second core. The other scientists and workers had seen Forte escape and were starting to panic, not all of them understanding what had happened but knowing that it spelled trouble.

"Dr. Hikari, you're injured!" A couple of spare paramedics ran over, ready to treat him, but he pushed him aside and ran over to the rescue crews.

"Fourth floor!" he spat out, as several gathered around him, including the director of SciLab. "Get to room 4-204C and look for the Dimensional Core there, right now! Let me know as soon as you get there!" The group nodded and ran off into the building, as other paramedics started tending to his forehead. He turned and began explaining himself to the SciLab director, praying that the situation hadn't taken a turn for the worse.

* * *

Inside room 4-204C, Lan slowly dragged himself across the floor, using all his strength to inch his way to the Dimensional Core that Forte had left behind. The front of his clothes were now completely stained red with his own blood, which was leaking out of his stomach at an alarming rate; the Wide Sword had severely damaged his spinal cord, paralyzing his legs and forcing him to crawl forward with only his hands and arms. His vision blurred and faded from the blood loss, and his limbs barely had any strength left. Only his connection to Megaman, through Hubstyle, gave him the strength to go on.

He kept his eyes upward as best he could, focused on the Dimensional Core which was now only feet away from him. His mind was now focused on the only thought it could cling to; his only hope for survival now lay in this Dimensional Core. Summoning all of his willpower, he weakly reached out his hand.

"C... Cr..."

* * *

The rescue team burst through the door that took them to the fourth floor. Looking around at the various signs, they quickly found the hallway that would take them down to the room they were looking for.

"Dr. Hikari, we've made it to the fourth floor! We're heading for 4-204C!"

Outside, Yuichiro nodded at the report, listening in on his PET. He was practically holding his breath, waiting for news about the core, and praying it could still be used. If Forte had taken it, and destroyed their notes and equipment, he didn't know how they could possibly defeat him.

The group finally made their way to the core room and busted in; being paramedics, they didn't know what a Dimensional Core looked like, but they were assured that they would know it when they saw it. Nothing, however, could have prepared them for the sight that greeted them inside the room.

After standing and looking for a moment, mouths agape, the leader picked his PET back up and spoke into it. "Dr. Hikari... you need to come and see this."

The man put his PET back down and continued staring at the floor, where a motionless, Cross-Fused Megaman lay in a giant pool of blood.


End file.
